


Choices

by sephydark



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh!
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-07-11
Updated: 2014-09-09
Packaged: 2017-11-09 19:34:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 26,042
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/457581
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sephydark/pseuds/sephydark
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Just before the Battle City tournament begins, Yami Yuugi faces the most important choice of his life: whether to search for his memories and possibly have to leave his friends, or keep things as they are and stay with Yuugi for the rest of his life. He chooses Yuugi.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. In Which a Decision is Made

No one knew his name, but he was known by many things. His friends called him the other Yuugi (Yuugi used "the other me", of course, but that was really the same thing). Bakura had called him the King. Before he had known better, he had thought of himself as a dark Yuugi. But all he really knew about himself now was that he was the spirit of the Millennium Puzzle.

Currently, the spirit was on a date with Anzu. He had not actually wanted to go on a date with Anzu, but Yuugi had set him up and the spirit hadn't realised what was going on until it was too late to back out. It hadn't been a bad date, at least: he had bought some new Duel Monsters cards (one of them was pretty good), and Anzu had gotten a chance to show off her dancing skills on an arcade game. Even though they had left the arcade and walked down to the water by now, she was still excited about her victory.

"That game made me feel like I could really dance! I feel as if I could do anything!"

But that only reminded the spirit of the things that had been making him unhappy recently. "Do anything..." he repeated quietly, voicing his thoughts. "My soul only exists in this Puzzle. There is a place where the Millennium Items go, my Puzzle as well. If I go there, maybe I can find out something about myself—why I exist, and what I should do..." The spirit paused for a moment, thinking. "But if I don't go," he finally said, "things can stay this way forever."

Anzu glanced over at him. "Yuugi," she said, "is that really what you're thinking?"

Yuugi's face swam before the spirit's eyes, then, reminding him of his reason not to go. "If things remain the way they are, I can stay in aibou's heart. I know that's what he wants too."

Anzu turned to look at him then, a determined expression on her face. "You might be sharing the same body, but remember, it's your heart you'll have to face in the end," she told him.

The spirit allowed his eyes to close in thought. Now that he didn't have the scenery to distract him, he couldn't get the images of Yuugi out of his head: Yuugi smiling, Yuugi laughing, Yuugi asking him if he wanted to play a game. If he didn't go to search for his memories, he would never know who he had been—but if he did, there might come a time when he would have to leave Yuugi forever. The spirit wasn't sure he could deal with that. And maybe finding out who he was in the past wasn't really so important. After all, he did have an identity here, and a life with Yuugi...

"I would like to get my memories back," he said finally. "But I couldn't face leaving aibou, not right now. I can't do it."

"If you're sure that's what you want," Anzu replied, quietly.

"I am sure," the spirit replied, already feeling more confident in his decision.

"Then you should do what you feel is right," Anzu said, though if the spirit had been paying attention he might have thought she sounded a little disappointed.

The spirit glanced over towards the setting sun. "It's probably about time for me to be going home, now."

"Yeah, I guess it is getting a little late," Anzu agreed.

"Do you want me to walk with you?" the spirit asked, realising that was probably the nice thing to do in this situation—Anzu was his friend, after all, even if he didn't want to date her.

"Oh, um, yeah, I would like that, if it's not too much trouble for you."

The spirit smiled a little, for the first time since he had begun to think about his future. "It's fine. We are going the same direction, after all."

"Thank you," Anzu said. She was quiet for the rest of the trip, but the spirit didn't mind that. He wasn't very interested in conversation right now.

Anzu and the spirit parted ways when they stepped off the bus, with Anzu going to her home and the spirit heading for the game shop. It was a slightly longer walk than it might have been, because the bus that Anzu had wanted to take was not the one that stopped nearest to the game shop, but the spirit didn't mind. The walk gave him more time to think about what his decision would mean for his future, and what he would say to Yuugi when Yuugi would inevitably ask what had happened. He wasn't sure he wanted to tell Yuugi everything just yet.

* * *

"Did your date with Anzu today go well, other me? You seem happier," Yuugi asked his other self late that evening, just as the other Yuugi had predicted he would. His mother was out doing something (Yuugi hadn't bothered to ask what when she left) and his grandfather had disappeared, so Yuugi figured that it was probably fine to speak to the other Yuugi out loud. He didn't need to, of course—it had been a while since he had learned to communicate mentally with the other Yuugi—but it felt more natural to him. It wasn't as though could speak to anyone else through his head, after all.

 _I guess you could say I'm happier_ , replied the spirit who had suddenly appeared next to Yuugi. _I came to a decision about something that was bothering me today._

Yuugi looked at him curiously. "What was the decision? Er, you don't have to tell me if you don't want to," he added hastily as the other Yuugi's expression turned unreadable.

The other Yuugi smiled, although Yuugi could tell it lacked real emotion behind it, and placed a hand on Yuugi's shoulder. _It's not important, aibou. It was only bothering me because I hadn't decided yet._ That wasn't entirely true, but Yuugi didn't need to be told everything just yet.

"You're so boring, other me. You go on a date with Anzu and don't even tell me what you did?"

 _It wasn't a particularly exciting date,_ the other Yuugi said with a shrug. _I don't really know what to tell you._

"Well, did you have fun? Should I set up another one?"

_I guess it was fun. I think it would probably be better if you went on the next one, though._

"There, that's what I wanted to hear. And about your decision..."

_It won't be bothering me anymore._

"That's alright then," Yuugi said, stifling a yawn. "Well, if you don't have anything else to tell me, I'm gonna go to bed now."

 _Oh, I almost forgot, I got some new Duel Monsters cards. They're over there._ The other Yuugi gestured to the desk, where he had put the new cards next to their regular deck. _I don't think I did too badly; I managed to get Lightforce Sword, and that's a pretty good one._

"Really? I can't believe you almost forgot to tell me that," Yuugi said, half-laughing, as he walked over to look at them. "Oh man, I can't wait to use these in my deck." He yawned again. "But I think that can wait for morning. G'night."

The other Yuugi smiled slightly. _That sounds fine. Goodnight,_ he said, vanishing.

* * *

A few uneventful days later Yuugi found himself watching the evening news out of boredom. His mother was working late and his grandfather was meeting an old friend and his friends were all busy, and it seemed to Yuugi as though there was absolutely nothing to do. There wasn't even anything else worth watching on television. Not that the news itself was terribly interesting: the top story was about some business which was being investigated for illegal deals, and then came several mind-numbing reports on international politics. Yuugi was just about to leave so he could put together a puzzle or something (maybe he could get the other Yuugi to play a board game against him?) when the newscaster said, "Seto Kaiba, CEO of Kaiba Corporation, has begun his new Duel Monsters tournament, Duelist City, today in Domino," which stopped Yuugi in his tracks. Any mention of Kaiba was enough to get his attention and, well, a Duel Monsters tournament on top of that made it difficult to look away. "Though there is no prize for the winner, Kaiba released a statement earlier saying 'the prestige of winning a competition put on by Kaibacorp, combined with the possibility of obtaining rare cards from opponents, should be enough to make any real Duel Monsters player want to compete'. Battle City is expected to draw duelists and card collectors from throughout the country..."

But Yuugi didn't wait hear the end of the report; he was already busy calling to his other self so they could talk about it. "Other me, did you hear that? Kaiba's hosting a duel monsters tournament right here in Domino City! I wish we could have entered; it sounds like a lot of fun."

 _It could have been,_ agreed the other Yuugi, _but that doesn't matter much if it's already started. Anyways, it sounds like the winner gets to take cards from the loser, and I don't really like that._

"You're probably right; that's not really the way I like to play either. A tournament still might have been fun, though."

The other Yuugi seemed amused. _Maybe we'll enter the next tournament, if you want._

"Yeah, maybe," Yuugi replied ambivalently. "That reminds me, I wanted to go through our deck again."

_Huh? You do?_

"I know we re-did it when we were in the hospital, but I think we still have room to make it better."

 _Alright,_ the other Yuugi said, not seeming to care much one way or the other. _What changes did you have in mind?_

"Let's see... I thought maybe we should add that card you got with Anzu, and I'm not totally happy with all of the spell cards we have in there."

_You seem to have a plan, so why don't you show me?_

"Yeah, sure," Yuugi said, reaching for the remote so he could turn off the television. "Let me go get our deck."

* * *

The next day, as soon as he got enough time, Yuugi told his friends about the tournament. Jounouchi seemed to be even more upset that he missed it than Yuugi had been.

"Ugh. I coulda' won, too, I just know it!"

"You do remember what happened last time you dueled Kaba, right Jounouchi?" Honda asked. "Unless I'm mistaken, he completely wiped the floor with you."

"Yeah, well, I was distracted that time," Jounouchi shot back. "This time would be different!"

"Different? Unless you're talking about how Kaiba would win even faster, I doubt it," Honda replied.

"We can still enter the next tournament that comes around," Yuugi said quickly, figuring he should step in before things got too out of hand. "We could enter together; it'll be more fun that way."

"Huh? Wouldn't you have entered this one?" Jounouchi sounded surprised; he seemed to have (fortunately) completely forgotten the argument he had just been having with Honda.

Yuugi laughed. "The other me would never play Duel Monsters with an ante. He hates the idea of taking someone else's precious cards from them."

"Heh, I guess that does sound like him," Jounouchi replied, smiling back. "Always way too invested in his cards." He paused for a moment. "Man, I'm hungry. Wanna get something to eat after school?"

"Sure, I could really go for a hamburger right now," Yuugi agreed. Jounouchi thought that sounded like a good idea, Honda didn't seem to mind, and Anzu couldn't come with them anyways because she had work, so after three of them promised to meet up later they all headed off to their respective classes.

* * *

The next few days passed without much incident for Yuugi, until another news report informed him that (to no one's great surprise) Kaiba had won the Battle City tournament, although, somewhat disturbingly, several of the other contestants had been sent to the hospital in unexplained comas. "It is still unclear what caused these strange accidents," the newscaster droned at the camera, "but Kaibacorp stated in a press release this morning that they intend to investigate to the fullest of their abilities. According to an inside source, who has asked not to be named, all of the comas occurred after losses against the same opponent, although his connection with the situation is still unknown."

Yuugi, quite naturally, was sent into something of a state of shock after hearing the news. He stumbled to his room, where he could—he could what? Shuffle his deck? Play solitaire? There wasn't much at all he could do about this situation, in his room or out of it, though at least in his room he was far enough from the other residents of his house to speak with the other Yuugi without raising suspicion. "I guess we're probably lucky we weren't able to enter that tournament," he said, because he felt like he needed to say _something_. "It sounds like it was dangerous. I hope the duelists who got hurt weren't anyone we knew."

 _You're right,_ the other Yuugi replied. _This is bad. It sounds far too much like a Shadow Game._

"Shadow Game? Like what we played against Pegasus?" Yuugi shivered at the memory. He didn't regret helping in that game, but nearly dying was not an experience he wanted to repeat anytime soon. "Can you tell?"

 _Not without seeing it myself. The signs are there, though, with them only happening_ after _duels, and all against the same person, too._

"Mmm. Does this mean that whoever it is also has a Millennium Item?"

 _I think so,_ the other Yuugi said, pausing. _No, wait, there was that one kid with the dragon cards—he managed to challenge us to a Shadow Game without having a Millennium Item._

"So, in other words, someone may or may not have been playing Shadow Games during the tournament, which may or may not have been connected to a Millennium Item. This is getting us nowhere! We barely even know any more than when we started!"

_We know that we'll have to be careful. If it is someone with another Millennium Item, they may be our enemy; all the others have been._

"I just wish we had something definite," Yuugi said, frustrated. "For all we know, everyone just got food poisoning or something!"

The other Yuugi made a face at that. _I know; I don't like it either. But all we can do right now is wait and hope nothing happens to us._

Over the next few days, Yuugi and his other self kept their guards up. The other Yuugi thought that an enemy might try to attack them in their sleep, so they took turns keeping watch in spirit form while their body slept. Yuugi's friends were a bit concerned about how tired this always seemed to leave him, but he didn't tell them his worries. He was keeping a close enough eye on them while they were with him, and they could be trusted to take care of themselves. Anyways, neither Yuugi nor the other Yuugi really wanted to worry them about something that might not even exist.

But after a couple of weeks had passed with still no sign of any enemy, Yuugi started to think that he might have just been being paranoid. After all, as the other Yuugi had assured him, he was fairly well known in gaming circles as the champion of Duelist Kingdom and the one who defeated Kaiba; it would not have been at all difficult for someone to find him if they were looking. So they began getting full nights' sleep again, and they stopped keeping such a close eye on their friends. After all, there wasn't any danger anymore.

Naturally, it was then that disaster chose to strike.


	2. In Which Disaster Nears

Jounouchi was missing from school, for only the second time since Yuugi had known him (at least, the second time Yuugi hadn't been with him), and Yuugi and his friends were worried.

"Maybe he just got a cold? I know he doesn't get sick often, but it has to happen sometimes." Anzu said, but she sounded unconvinced.

Honda shook his head. "I got a weird phone call about him this morning; it sounded like he was in some sort of trouble."

"Could it have something to do with that gang he was in, then?" Yuugi asked, though he felt sure it didn't. Not when he still remembered his and the other Yuugi's worries about Shadow Games.

"I don't think they really want to have anything to do with him after what happened last time," Honda replied. "I don't know any of the details, but I hear a bunch of them ended up in the hospital."

 _Other me?_ Yuugi asked, without speaking. His other self had been listening to the conversation, though he hadn't said anything so far.

 _We_ knew _something like this might happen,_ the other Yuugi said, sounding frustrated. _I should have been able to do something!_

 _It's not your fault,_ Yuugi replied, trying to calm him down. _I was the one who thought they wouldn't attack any more, after all._

"Yuugi, are thinking about something? You seem awfully quiet." Anzu asked, breaking in on his conversation.

Yuugi took a moment before he decided to tell his friends what he had been talking about. "The other me and I think that this might have something to do with all those injuries at Battle City—that's the name of the Duel Monsters tournament that was held here a few weeks ago." he added when his friends looked puzzled. "We think that it might be someone with a Millennium Item."

"A Millennium Item? That's bad, right?" Honda asked.

"Yuugi's Puzzle doesn't seem 'bad'," Anzu pointed out, "Though I don't want to run into Pegasus' Eye and Bakura's Ring again."

"Well, if this person had anything to do with Jounouchi's disappearance, they can't be good news," Honda said matter-of-factly.

"We still don't know who or where this person is, though," Yuugi said. "We'll never find them if we have to search the whole city."

 _Didn't we see a picture of a woman with a Millennium Item when we were in the hospital?_ the other Yuugi asked suddenly, sounding as though he had only just remembered. Yuugi certainly had forgotten. _I think she had something to do with the Egyptian exhibit at the Domino Museum._

"You're right! I had completely forgotten about that," Yuugi exclaimed, grateful to his other self for remembering. It wasn't until he noticed his friends giving him odd looks that he clarified: "The other me remembered that we saw a picture of a woman who looked like she had a Millennium Item with some stuff about that exhibit on Ancient Egypt that's at the Domino Museum right now."

"That settles it," Anzu said, a determined glare on her face. "After school we are going straight there."

"Don't you have work?" Honda asked.

"I'll call in sick. If they fire me, I can always get another job. This is much more important."

* * *

The rest of Yuugi's school day dragged on and on: minutes felt like hours, and hours felt like centuries. He was painfully aware that every second he spent in school was another second not spent searching for Jounouchi. When the bell signaling the end of the day rang, he immediately jumped out of his seat and practically ran out the school gate before stopping to wait for his friends to catch up so they could walk to the bus stop together. The bus to the museum was running slow, and Yuugi was impatient and fidgety for the whole ride. Glances at his friends told him that they were not in much better states. All three of them were at the doors before their bus even stopped, and Yuugi had to grab on to keep himself from tumbling out when they finally opened. From the bus stop it was less than a block to the museum, and then all they had to do was buy their tickets and they were in. Yuugi was too distracted even to correct the lady behind the counter when she sold him a child's ticket.

 _We're just here to look for this person, right? No looking at the exhibits?_ the other Yuugi asked when Yuugi and his friends had stopped to figure out where exactly they were going. Yuugi thought he sounded worried about something—something other than Jounouchi, that was.

 _Of course not; we don't have time to stop,_ Yuugi replied, being careful not to say anything out loud—it was one thing to slip when only his friends were around, but he didn't want people staring at him here. _Why? Is there something you want to see?_

_Nothing like that. I just wanted to know, that's all._

Yuugi felt a bit curious as to what the other Yuugi would care, but he didn't get a chance to ask about it because at that moment Anzu had figured out the way to the Egyptian exhibit, and, hopefully, the woman they were looking for.

"We just make a left into that hallway down there. It'll be a few doors down, but I think there'll probably be a sign."

There was indeed a sign, and the group rushed through the marked door. They hurried through the exhibit, not stopping to look at any of the jewelry or pottery on display. Even the giant stone tablets contained in one room didn't get more than a passing glance from any of them.

Their hurrying was halted at a room with two exits. "Ugh, which way should we go now?" Anzu asked, sounding as frustrated as Yuugi felt.

"I was hoping we would have found that woman by now," he said.

 _It's possible that she isn't here today,_ the other Yuugi said in reply. _I doubt she comes every day._

"You know, it would be a bit more helpful if you thought of those sorts of things _before_ they become problems!" Yuugi snapped, earning himself funny looks from the other people wandering through the exhibit. He immediately regretted his outburst. _I'm sorry, other me. I don't know what came over me; I didn't mean to yell at you like that._

 _I understand. We're_ all _worried about Jounouchi._

"What's the matter?" Anzu asked, after the other Yuugi had finished talking (it seemed to Yuugi almost as though she knew he was done).

"It's just—what if that woman's not here? What if she left?" Yuugi said, trying to stop himself from panicking and breaking down into tears, or something—that would be supremely unhelpful right now.

"We will find her," Anzu said in a determined voice, although Yuugi thought she looked as though she didn't quite believe herself. "If she's not here, we'll find someone who knows where she is."

"It'll go faster if we split up," Honda said. "Anzu and I will take this hall," he gestured to the door on Yuugi's right, "and Yuugi, you can go over there. We'll meet back here when we finish."

"Why do I have to be the one who goes alone?" Yuugi protested, only half serious.

"You're already like two people, right?" Honda replied, laughing a little. Yuugi laughed too, wondering how they could be making jokes during such a serious situation as this was.

Yuugi took the new corridor more slowly than he had the previous rooms. The other Yuugi was beside him now, helping him to look around, but he still felt far too alone and vulnerable without his friends by his side. After a bit, he felt a hand resting gently on his upper arm. _I'm worried too, if it helps. I only hope that this woman doesn't sneak up on us._

 _Yeah, me too,_ Yuugi replied, but already he was starting to feel a bit more relaxed. The other Yuugi was there too; he wouldn't let anything bad happen to either of them. Things were going to be okay.

"I was wondering when you would arrive, Yuugi. I've been expecting you for some time now," a soft voice said then from just behind Yuugi, causing him to jump and spin around faster than he thought was possible.

 _Let me deal with this,_ Yuugi heard his other self say. Yuugi didn't even bother giving himself enough time to answer before allowing the other Yuugi to take control of his body.

"I dare say you _were_ expecting me." The other Yuugi glared up at the woman. Yuugi echoed the glare even though he knew the woman couldn't see him, holding onto his other self's arm in a show of support. "Who are you, and what have you done with Jounouchi?"

"My name is Ishizu Ishtar—but Jounouchi?" she asked, looking confused. "Who is Jounouchi?"

"Our friend who went missing. You must know where he is."

The woman shook her head, the expression on her face only more puzzled.

 _I think she's telling the truth. She really doesn't know what happened,_ Yuugi told his other self.

"A new Millennium Item shows up, someone starts playing Shadow Games, and our friend goes missing, and you're telling me they _aren't_ related?" the other Yuugi said, and Yuugi couldn't tell whether it was to him or to the woman in front of them.

"Shadow games? You must be talking about Marik. I suppose it would have been possible for him to cause your friend's disappearance."

"Marik? Tell me who this Marik is, and where I can find him," the other Yuugi said, giving voice to Yuugi's thoughts.

"Marik... is the possessor of the Millennium Rod," Ishizu said. She sounded guarded, and Yuugi suspected that there was quite a bit that she wasn't telling him about Marik. "He came to this city looking for God Cards, and for the Pharaoh—you."

 _She's not telling us something,_ Yuugi whispered to his other self, forgetting no one else could hear him. _Be careful._

But it seemed the other Yuugi had something else on his mind. "Pharaoh? Why did you call me Pharaoh?"

"You are the spirit of an ancient Pharaoh, sealed into your Millennium Puzzle for thousands of years. It is your fate to gather the three—"

 _Other me..._ Yuugi said warningly, trying to remind the other Yuugi what they were there for. _If you want to hear what she has to say we can come back later._

The other Yuugi gave Yuugi a barely perceptible nod of acknowledgment before turning back to Ishizu. "I don't have time for this. Where can we find this Marik person, and what can we expect if he has Jounouchi?"

"I do not know exactly where he is, though I do know his boat is docked at the port. I can show you which one it is if you need me to. But if he does have your friend... that is not good. Not good at all. You may not be able to save him."

"We'll never know if we don't try," the other Yuugi replied. "Once I get my friends, you can take me to Marik's boat, alright?"

"Very well. But be quick in finding your friends."

Yuugi allowed his apparition to fade away as his other self went to look for their friends; the other Yuugi did not need him right now. It wasn't even a very long search; their friends were waiting at the place they had separated.

"Yuugi, there you are!" Anzu said, sounding relieved to be seeing him again. "We were worried something had happened to you."

"Did you find the woman?" Honda asked, more matter-of-factly.

"We did. She doesn't know what happened to Jounouchi, but she does know who might," said the other Yuugi, and he explained to them about Marik and his boat at the port.

"We're not going to rescue Jounouchi if we stand here talking," Honda said when the other Yuugi had finished. "Let's go!"

The port was near enough to Domino Museum that Ishizu and Yuugi's friends simply walked to it. Not many boats were docked there right now, so it was easy to find the one they were looking for.

"You may find the person you search for within, but I will go no further," Ishizu said once she had pointed them to the correct one. "I do wish you luck in finding him, though."

"Thank you!" Anzu shouted back at her as the three of them ran to the boat. They climbed on board (Yuugi needed someone to help him up) not caring that what they were doing probably counted as trespassing. They were far too worried about Jounouchi to be afraid of the police; anyways, if Marik had captured Jounouchi he must have been expecting them to come.

Yuugi (or, rather, the other Yuugi; he hadn't changed back yet) and his friends found nothing on the ship's deck, not that they were really expecting to, so they moved into the cabins on top. The interior was dark, and none of them could see much at all after the bright sunlight outside. They made their way around the few rooms on that deck mostly by touch, at least until their eyes had adjusted (there were surprisingly few portholes, even though the boat had plenty of room to put them).

"Shouldn't there be some sort of way down to the rest of the ship?" Honda asked the rest as they finished the last room. "I think we've just about finished searching up here."

They turned and left the room, hoping to find some sort of hatch on deck, when Honda said, "What's this? We must not have noticed it on the way in because of the da—wagh!" followed by a rather loud thump.

"Are you okay?!" Yuugi heard his other self and Anzu ask in unison.

"I'll be fine," Honda replied dismissively. "In other news, I think I've found us the way down."

Honda turned out to be rather lucky that he had managed to grab the corner of the wall and save himself from falling down a narrow stairway none of them had noticed on their first time through the area. Its base was shrouded in darkness, preventing them from seeing anything about where it led.

The other Yuugi led the way down the stairs, with Anzu following him and Honda bringing up the rear. The stair was as steep as it was narrow, but fortunately all their eyes had adjusted well enough to the darkness that none of them stumbled. They would probably have broken their necks if they fell.

At the bottom, the stairway opened onto another corridor, longer than the one they had just come from but otherwise not much different. To the left were more doors, one of which was open, though the room behind it could not be seen. To the right, the corridor contained— _Jounouchi!_ Yuugi cried, momentarily forgetting that only his other self would be able to hear him right now.

"Jounouchi?" the other Yuugi echoed, causing his friends behind him in the stairwell to draw breath; Yuugi could imagine the excited looks on their faces. The boy in the corridor, however, made no sign that he heard anything, or recognised Yuugi.

"I thought you might find me here," the boy (because Yuugi couldn't imagine _Jounouchi_ acting like this for anything) said in a monotone. "Follow me."

"Are you my friend Jounouchi?" the other Yuugi asked, clearly feeling the same confusion Yuugi had.

"I am," the boy replied, as emotionlessly as before. "Follow me."

 _What do you think we should do?_ the other Yuugi asked Yuugi mentally.

 _Do we really have any choice except to follow him?_ Yuugi replied. _I can't think of any other way to find out what's going on._

_I suppose you are right, aibou. What are we going to do about our friends?_

_Let them come with us?_ Yuugi suggested, feeling a bit amused. _I don't think they're going to let us leave them behind._

 _That's probably true,_ the other Yuugi replied, and Yuugi could feel a faint smile of amusement ghost across his lips before he hurried to catch up with the boy who claimed to be Jounouchi.

The not-Jounouchi led them nearly to the end of the corridor before turning through a doorway whose door was already standing open. The room inside was fairly large, particularly considering that it was on a ship. It was lit by a single, bare light bulb hanging from the ceiling. When Yuugi, Anzu, and Honda had all entered, Jounouchi, who had been standing by the door the whole time, shut and locked it, putting the key he had used into his pocket.

"We've been locked in. Wonderful," Anzu said sarcastically. "I was wondering where that guy was taking us."

Honda, meanwhile, was attempting a slightly more proactive approach. "Come on, Jounouchi, you have to unlock that door!" he shouted, shaking his friend. When he got no response, he tried grabbing the key out of Jounouchi's pocket, but Jounouchi shoved him aside.

"Hey! What was that for?" Honda said indignantly, going after Jounouchi again. This time, Jounouchi punched him in the face.

"Ow! Man, what is wrong with him?" Honda said, rubbing his bruised jaw.

"You can not leave," Jounouchi said in the same monotone he had used before.

A few moments of silence passed as the group thought about what had just happened. Eventually, Yuugi broke the silence (well, as much as he could without having a voice anyone but his other self could hear): _Other me, would you mind giving me control for a little while?_

 _No, why?_ the other Yuugi replied, sounding a bit surprised at the request. _Do you have some sort of plan?_

 _I do. If this really is the real Jounouchi, I think it will work,_ Yuugi said. If he had a mouth to do it with, he probably would have smiled.

 _Good luck, aibou. I hope your plan works,_ the other Yuugi said, as he gave control of their shared body back to Yuugi.

Yuugi did smile a little at the encouragement, and walked over to stand next to Jounouchi. "Hey, Jounouchi," he said, looking up at the person who should have been his best friend, "do you remember how we became friends? I brought my Millennium Puzzle to school that day—I hadn't solved it back then—and when you saw me with it you grabbed it and kept it out of my reach. Said you were trying to 'make me into a man'." It was too fast to be certain, but Yuugi thought he saw a flicker of recognition in Jounouchi's eyes at that, so he continued. "The next day after school Ushio took me to see you and Honda getting beat up. He seemed to think I'd be happy about it. I wasn't, of course, so he beat me up too, heh." There it was again—and this time Yuugi was _sure_ he saw Jounouchi remember, if only for a moment. "He told me I had to pay him a bunch of money, but I didn't have enough so I solved my Puzzle instead, except I was missing one piece. But someone brought me the last piece, and I finished the Puzzle, and Ushio never caused us trouble again. Grandpa never told me who it was that brought that last piece of the Puzzle, but Jounouchi, I always thought it was you. We became such good friends after that and it always just seemed to fit."

"Yuugi?" Jounouchi said, seeming as though he was coming out of a daze. "Where are we?"

"Thank goodness you're okay!" Yuugi said, overjoyed that he had succeeded in getting the old Jounouchi back. "You were acting really weird; you locked us in here."

"And you punched me!" Honda added.

"Well, _that_ I don't regret. Whatever you did, you probably deserved it," Jounouchi said, laughing. "But I locked us in?" he added, turning to Yuugi. "What'd I do with the key?"

"It's in your pocket. The rest of us know the way out once we get out of this room."

Jounouchi managed to waste some time checking the wrong pocket first, but he unlocked the door soon enough (Yuugi noticed that time seemed to be going a bit faster, too, now that he was less worried). Anzu volunteered to lead the group out, claiming that she had the best sense of direction, and they left, telling jokes and laughing as they did, but mostly just feeling relieved that their adventures had not ended badly.


	3. In Which Yuugi does not go on a date

"I'm so glad we managed to get out of that alright. It could have gone really badly," Yuugi said, apparently to no one, as he flopped down into his desk chair. It was the evening after he and his friends had gone to rescue Jounouchi; they had all gone out to dinner afterwards to celebrate their success in that endeavor. 

_We're not safe yet. Whoever went after Jounouchi might go after us again, and I can't guarantee that their methods won't be more effective this time,_ the other Yuugi said in reply.

"Wasn't his name Marik? And I know that. But this should give us a little extra time, at least," Yuugi said, feeling a little annoyed that his other self didn't seem to think he understood. He knew he shouldn't really be speaking out loud to the other Yuugi—he had already overheard his mother speaking concernedly about how often he had been talking to himself recently—but he couldn't bring himself to care right now.

_You're right, of course. Do you have any sort of plan for when he does come back?_

"I'm working on it," Yuugi replied, although he hadn't thought of anything yet. "We've still got a few days, right?"

 _Yes, but we don't even know how he'll strike next! I'm sure he won't use the same strategy again!_ Yuugi thought that if his other self had teeth, they would be gritted right now.

 _Calm down,_ Yuugi said, deciding that he probably should stop speaking out loud. _We can deal with those problems when they happen. It's not going to help us if you keep worrying about it like this._

 _I can't just leave us all in danger!_ the other Yuugi replied, materializing to pace the room. _What if it's worse next time? What if—_

 _It'll be alright,_ Yuugi said, catching his other self's arm and holding him there. _We can make it through this._ He stood up to pull his other self into a hug. "It'll be alright," he said again, this time whispering it into the other's ear. "We made it through everything else, right? Death-T, and Monster World, and Duelist Kingdom, and the Black Crown, not to mention all the other people who tried to hurt me before them."

Yuugi could feel his other self relax slightly in his arms as he brought one hand up to awkwardly pat the other Yuugi's shoulder. _Yeah, but we knew what all those people wanted. Not like this one, who kidnaps Jounouchi and locks us in his ship without even making any demands._

Now that his other self seemed calm enough not to challenge the next person who came near to a Shadow Game or something, Yuugi pushed himself out of the hug. "I'm sure we'll find out soon enough," he said, his voice still low. "Now that our friends are on their guards, it won't be so easy to get to us through them, either."

Just as Yuugi had been able to feel his other self's worry before, he could feel his other self calming down now. He found it calmed him as well. "Wanna help me finish that puzzle I was working on?" Yuugi asked, already reaching for a piece of cardboard and a box that proclaimed "1000 pieces" in large letters on the side. "We can talk while we work, if you want to."

 _That sounds fine—that piece goes there—_ Yuugi slotted the piece into the position he indicated, and it did indeed fit perfectly, _but I don't want to talk about that Marik person._

 _What about at the museum today? You seemed pretty interested when that woman called you Pharaoh,_ Yuugi said, switching back to mental communication. _Do you want to go back and find out more?_

 _Not really my first choice of conversational topics, either,_ the other Yuugi said, though he didn't sound particularly upset, _but no, I don't particularly need to hear more about that._

 _If this has something to do with me, you shouldn't worry. I'll understand if you want to find out about your past._ Yuugi was telling the truth—he did understand why his other self would want to learn his past—although that didn't mean he was really happy about it. He had always held some amount of hope that things would stay the same between them forever, even if deep down he knew that was impossible. Not that he would ever tell the other Yuugi that now: he didn't want to let his selfish desires to get in the way of what the other Yuugi wanted.

_It's not—that is, I'm not doing this for your sake. I really am not interested in finding out._

Yuugi felt certain that the other Yuugi was not telling him the whole story, but he also felt certain that this was not the correct time to press the issue, so he stayed quiet. Instead, he took the time to slot several more pieces of the puzzle into place.

 _This one goes there,_ the other Yuugi said, indicating a piece with a little bit of landscape in one corner. _You like puzzles a lot,_ he added. It was a statement of fact, not a question.

 _You should be happy,_ Yuugi told him, smiling fondly. _I would have given up on the Millennium Puzzle a long time ago otherwise._

Their conversation took a turn towards more mundane topics then, such as new games they were hoping to play and Yuugi's homework, which he was procrastinating on right now. They continued on in this way until Yuugi decided he really _did_ need to start on his homework and so banished all distractions, including his other self, from the room.

* * *

Yuugi may have allowed the topic of his other self's past to drop during their earlier conversation, but he did not forget about it. And so, when his friends invited him to go with them to the local amusement park over the weekend, he turned them down, claiming he had other things to do. It wasn't a lie, exactly, although he figured that they didn't expect him to be going back to the museum. He felt certain his other self didn't know, either; the other Yuugi thought Yuugi had accepted his dismissive response to the question Yuugi had asked on the subject, and Yuugi had been careful to keep his plans from his other self.

Getting to the museum was not terribly difficult: now that the only thing Yuugi needed to worry about was that the other Yuugi might figure out what he was doing, the trip was actually a fairly fast one. Not that he had to worry much about that; the other Yuugi didn't seem to notice anything until Yuugi was already standing in front of the museum.

 _Isn't this the Domino Museum? Why are we here again?_ he asked, sounding more than a little confused.

 _The key to getting your memories back is in here, right?_ Yuugi said. _I know you were interested when Ishizu was talking to you about them._

 _Ah, well, it's true that I would like to know about my past, in a perfect world. But I'm afraid if I do that, I'll have to give up something much more important to me._ Yuugi was about to protest, knowing that there was something his other self wasn't telling him, but the other Yuugi cut him off before he could start. _Anyways, if I'd really just been doing this just to spare your feelings or something, your insistence would have already been enough to convince me otherwise._

 _If you're sure about it,_ Yuugi replied, feeling glad that he didn't have to choose between his other self's happiness and staying together. _We should do something while we're down here, though. It would be a waste to come all this way just to turn around and go home._

 _We could go to the arcade,_ the other Yuugi suggested, _or I know there's a game shop around here somewhere._

 _Why would I need to go to a game shop?_ Yuugi asked, confused. _We already live in one._

The other Yuugi paused for a moment before answering. _It's more of a specialty card store, really. I think they might sell those Duel Disks that Kaiba Corporation came out with recently. I know you've been wanting one pretty badly lately._

 _They do? Awesome! I just hope I can afford it,_ Yuugi said excitedly. _Alright, then. We'll figure out something to do for a while, eat lunch around here, then we'll go check out those Duel Disks._ He began walking away from the museum, looking for the arcade his other self had mentioned.

 _This is beginning to feel a lot like that date you set me up on with Anzu,_ the other Yuugi noted. _Not that it is a date or anything,_ he added when Yuugi looked surprised.

 _It's not that,_ Yuugi replied, feeling a bit amused that the other Yuugi felt the need to deny that he thought it was a date. _You just haven't talked about that since it happened. I wasn't expecting you to mention it._

 _To be honest, there wasn't much to talk about,_ the other Yuugi said. _We ate lunch, wandered around, bought the cards I showed you, and talked a bit, and then I went home. Not very exciting, really._

 _I guess. I just thought you might have wanted to tell me how it went._ Yuuugi reached the arcade and slowed a little. _Oh, hey, we're here! Wanna go in?_ He didn't bother waiting for an answer before entering.

 _I bet I could get a higher score than you on any of the games in here,_ his other self replied, his tone making it clear that this was more of a friendly game than a serious challenge.

 _I think I'll take you up on that,_ Yuugi said, a grin spreading across his face. _Don't underestimate me, though. I'm pretty good at some of these._

* * *

 _I wasn't really trying at that one,_ the other Yuugi said, sounding sulky. _I could have won if I had tried harder._

 _You just don't want to admit that I beat you fair and square,_ Yuugi replied, having to try hard to keep his crowing internal; it wasn't often that Yuugi won against his other self in a game, but this seemed to have become something of a tradition when he did. He hadn't really thought much about how it had started, but he figured that it was something he had picked up from his friends. It wasn't as though his other self couldn't tell he was mostly joking, anyways.

 _I still say I could do better than you if we played again,_ his other self said.

 _Alright, then, we'll do it again,_ was Yuugi's reply. _Best two out of three._

 _No, that's fine,_ the other Yuugi said. _I don't really think we need to._

 _Yeah, because I'd just beat you again,_ Yuugi said, finding it increasingly difficult to pretend to be serious about this. Judging from the other Yuugi's tone of voice, he felt the same. _What do you want to do next?_

 _Maybe lunch?_ the other Yuugi suggested as Yuugi's stomach let out a growl. _I'm starting to feel a bit hungry._

 _I think you're right,_ Yuugi replied. _Let's go for hamburgers._

 _You really like hamburgers, don't you?_ the other Yuugi asked, sounding amused.

 _Hey, hamburgers are delicious,_ Yuugi said, trying to sound indignant, though the fact that he was fighting back laughter probably gave him away. _Anyways, you like them too._

 _You got me there,_ the other Yuugi replied, _although I'm not sure how fair that is if we share the same taste buds. Do you have a place in mind?_

Yuugi shrugged. _We'll find somewhere._

As he left the arcade to start his search, Yuugi saw a woman who looked too much like Ishizu for it to be a coincidence hurrying past, heading away from the museum. In one hand she was carrying a basket of something, which Yuugi thought looked like a gift, and in the other she held a paper—maybe a note? Whatever it was, it didn't look to Yuugi as though it went with the basket. Yuugi thought it was an amusing coincidence that he saw her now, but he did not call out to her or alert his other self; after all, the other Yuugi had said he didn't need to talk to her, and Yuugi had no reason to interrupt her when she was doing something that appeared to be important, so he set himself back on the task of finding a place he wanted to eat.

Although Yuugi did not know downtown Domino particularly well, and no hamburger restaurants were immediately visible from where he was standing, it didn't take him long to locate one a few blocks from the arcade. The restaurant was, naturally, also unfamiliar to Yuugi, so he needed to study the menu for a few minutes before ordering what the restaurant called a "Giant Cheese Monster", a name which amused the other Yuugi greatly.

The cashier had told Yuugi that it would take a few minutes for his food to come, so he sat down at a table to wait. _I wish you had your own body so we could eat together,_ he said to the other Yuugi, who had materialized and was currently sitting on the bench next to him.

 _I can move across the table if that would make you feel better,_ the other Yuugi offered.

 _I don't think that's gonna help much,_ Yuugi said, unable to stop himself from letting out a short burst of laughter. This earned him some odd looks from the other customers, but he didn't really care at the moment. _I can still see through you, for one. And you wouldn't have any food either._

The other Yuugi moved to the other side of the table anyways, and Yuugi thought that this probably _was_ a good thing, because it meant he didn't have to turn his head to look at his other self any more. Not that it mattered much: his food came shortly after, and then he was too busy eating to hold a conversation. It was, of course, still possible for them to talk with each other when Yuugi's mouth was full, but Yuugi wasn't used to it, and he wanted to concentrate on his food anyways.

When Yuugi finished eating the other Yuugi began to smile. _You ready to get that Duel Disk?_ he asked.

 _Definitely,_ Yuugi said. After a pause, he added, _I think you'll have to show me where I'm supposed to go._

They ended up having to go back to the arcade before the other Yuugi could figure out how to get to the card store, but they made it there eventually. Yuugi didn't really mind the delay, though: they had plenty of time, and he was busy talking with his other self about the newest games and the relative merits of playing an RPG with Bakura (Yuugi was of the opinion that it would be fun, but the other Yuugi worried that it might turn out too much like the time they played Monster World).

 _Well, that is a pretty good point, but I'd say that by now we can usually tell which Bakura it is,_ Yuugi argued. _And the other Bakura_ did _help when I was trying to win the Puzzle back from Otogi, so he might not be all that bad._

 _Aibou, you can be far too trusting sometimes,_ the other Yuugi replied. But whatever his next argument was, it went unsaid. _There it is! That's where we're going._ He pointed to a small storefront that had "Trading Cards" written on the sign in big letters, with "RPG" and "Hobby" on the side.

After taking a few minutes to browse the store's wares, Yuugi went up to the counter to inquire about their Duel Disks. But when the cashier told him the price, he despaired. "What? there's no way I can afford that!"

"Sorry, boy, that's the price; nothing I can do about it."

"I guess I'll just get these, then," Yuugi said, throwing a couple of packs of Duel Monsters cards on the counter, along with the money to pay for them.

"Ugh, those were supposed to be the best—even better than the Battle Boxes we used in Duelist Kingdom. They're probably even better than those prototypes Kaiba brought with him," Yuugi moaned as he left the store, not giving a second glance to the owner, who was reaching for the store's telephone.

 _I'm sorry, aibou. Don't let this get you too down,_ the other Yuugi said, hovering worriedly behind Yuugi.

 _Don't worry, I'm not,_ Yuugi replied good-humoredly. _I'll get my hands on one of those eventually._

 _Well, I'm glad it didn't ruin your day,_ the other Yuugi said, moving so that Yuugi could see him. Yuugi noticed that he was smiling.

 _No way; today has been way too fun to be ruined by something as stupid as that,_ Yuugi said, smiling back.

 _More fun than going to the amusement park with your friends?_ the other Yuugi asked. _I know you had to turn them down for this._

 _Maybe not better than that, but different,_ Yuugi said after a little thought. _Still fun, though. Why, if this was a date,_ he added with a sly smile, remembering his other self's comment from earlier, _and if you were a girl, I'd probably kiss you right about now._

 _Why do I have to be the girl in this scenario?_ his other self complained.

 _Well, I'm not a girl, and it would be weird for me to kiss another guy, so..._ Yuugi said.

 _I'm not a girl, either, you know_ the other Yuugi said. Then, after a pause, he added, _Wait, are you saying you would kiss me if you were into guys?_

 _Well, I can't really—hey! Stop teasing me!_ Yuugi said, indignant.

The other Yuugi's reply was just a chuckle, which proved to be infectious. Yuugi was so busy laughing with his other self, he bumped right into another shopper, causing the man to spill his bags all over the street.

"Oh crap! I'm so sorry!" Yuugi meant his apology; he felt awful. "I should have been paying more attention to where I was going. If there's anything I can do to help you..."

But the man Yuugi had bumped into was already picking up the things he had dropped and shoving them back into his bags. Yuugi tried his best to help by getting some of the things that had rolled farther away, but the man seemed to have it under control, so Yuugi took the opportunity to get a better look at him. He was dark-skinned with odd, sand-colored hair; Yuugi thought he must have been a foreigner.

"Would you mind holding this for a moment?" the man asked once he had gotten everything back into his bags, thrusting a gold-colored rod which he had been holding the whole time into Yuugi's arms before Yuugi could reply and beginning to hoist his bags onto his shoulders.

The rod was heavy, enough that Yuugi thought it might actually be made of gold. He was surprised; it seemed much too valuable to be handing to a complete stranger. He looked down at it, but was only able to get a glance at the eye-shaped design on the end before its owner snatched it back and thanked him for his help.

 _That was odd,_ Yuugi remarked to his other self as the man walked away. _I'm pretty sure that rod he handed me was made of real gold._

 _That is pretty weird, but I doubt there's much harm he could do just by making you hold that thing for a couple seconds. Nothing bad seems to have happened so far, anyways. We can keep an eye out for him if that makes you feel better, though,_ the other Yuugi said, sounding a little worried nonetheless.

 _Yeah, it's probably nothing,_ Yuugi agreed (after all, his other self had been the one panicking over the situation earlier). _I'm just feeling a little nervous after what happened with Jounouchi._

 _Can't say I blame you for that,_ said the other Yuugi, _but I can't imagine any danger he could have put you in with something like that. Should we go home now?_

 _Yeah, alright,_ Yuugi said. _I don't think there's anything else we need to do around here._ He started walking again, heading toward the stop for the bus that would take him home. But as he walked, a new plan came into his head, as suddenly and certainly as if someone had told him what to do, and he began to turn his feet towards the train tracks.

Yuugi was going to kill himself.


	4. In Which Yuugi Disappears

The spirit of the Millennium Puzzle was confused. He did not know the way home as well as Yuugi did, but he knew it well enough to be certain that the way Yuugi was currently going was not it.

 _Aibou? Where are we going?_ he asked, but Yuugi didn't answer. _Aibou?_

 _There's something I have to do,_ Yuugi said sharply, his mental voice sounding off in a way the spirit couldn't quite put his finger on.

None of this seemed quite right to the spirit: it was unlike Yuugi to suddenly change plans and not tell him about it. Then there was that strange tone of voice, even stranger when the spirit considered that Yuugi had been laughing almost the whole day so far.

The spirit's worry grew more and more as Yuugi walked further and further off the proper course, to some unknown new destination. The direction they were going would take them near the train station, although Yuugi seemed to be veering a little to the right of the station itself. Of course, the spirit supposed that it could be something innocent; maybe Yuugi just didn't want his other self to know where he was going. The spirit might even have thought Yuugi was taking him back to the museum if they hadn't been going the wrong direction.

Deep down, though, the spirit knew he didn't really believe that everything was fine. He could still remember what had happened with Jounouchi just a few days before; this seemed far, far too similar. It could easily be the same thing. Jounouchi had been able to shake whatever it was off with Yuugi's help—maybe the spirit could do the same for Yuugi? Even though he wasn't sure quite how Yuugi had done it, and couldn't exactly ask Yuugi for help right now.

It was at this point that the spirit stopped came out of his thoughts long enough to notice that Yuugi had stopped walking. He was standing by the train tracks, looking down them, apparently waiting for something. After a few moments he must have seen whatever it was he was looking for, because Yuugi stepped out to cross—just as the lights that signaled a train was nearing began to flash—and paused, though he didn't seem to have lost it.

 _There's a train coming,_ the spirit said, hoping that perhaps Yuugi had been concentrating so hard on the thing he was looking for that he hadn't noticed it somehow, since there was no other reason he could think of for Yuugi to be standing on the train tracks. _You should get out of the way._

Yuugi didn't budge at the spirit's suggestion, except to glance in the direction the train was coming from. The spirit—and, by extension, Yuugi—could hear the train now as well as see it.

 _Aibou—Yuugi!_ he shouted, but Yuugi made no sign that he heard him, or even noticed the oncoming train. With only a split second to act, the spirit did the only thing he could think of: he shoved Yuugi out of control of their shared body (fortunately, whatever had come over Yuugi did not cause him to resist) and dove out of the way of the train, only just in time.

The spirit fell flat on his stomach when he landed, and lay still on the ground as he felt the pull of wind from the passing train. When the air had stilled, he stood up again, shaking from adrenaline. The people on the side of the tracks were saying things to him—they had been the whole time, the spirit realised—and some offered help, but he brushed past them. He needed to get home, somewhere he could go to his soul room and find out what had happened to Yuugi.

The spirit did not pay any more attention to his surroundings than was necessary to make sure he was on the right path; he was too preoccupied with worrying about Yuugi to spare his thoughts for anything else. He hadn't gotten much further than horror that Yuugi had tried to throw them in front of a train, and hope that a visit to his soul room would explain something, though, before he was tearing up the stairs to Yuugi's room and locking himself in.

Getting to his soul room was easy, and he knew the path to the door so well he could walk it in his sleep, but the spirit moved more slowly than he had to, dreading what he might find at the end.

There had been no need for the spirit to worry quite so much, though; when he opened the door to his soul room, he found nothing out of the ordinary. The door to Yuugi's soul room was closed, but in retrospect he should have expected that: in his hurry, he hadn't bothered to warn Yuugi that he was coming. So the spirit pounded on the door and called for Yuugi to come out, but there was no answer. He tried reaching out mentally to Yuugi next; their link was weaker in here, but it would probably work if Yuugi didn't block him—or if Yuugi wasn't in his soul room (something the spirit sincerely hoped wasn't the case). It was a success, sort of: he did manage to sense _someone_ —but it was not Yuugi. In fact, the one he found seemed more like the strange man who Yuugi had bumped into on the street than anything else. The man who, according to Yuugi, had given them a rod made of gold to hold onto while he picked up his bags. Of course! That had been a Millennium Item, and the man (probably Marik, a part of the spirit's mind that was far too calm for the situation supplied) was using it to control Yuugi!

Although the spirit did not consciously try to leave his soul room, he found himself suddenly back in control of Yuugi's body, panting as if he had just run a marathon. He ripped the Puzzle off of his neck, hoping that breaking his link with his other self would also break his link with this strange man who seemed to have taken Yuugi's place. It worked as well as could be expected; in the space in his mind where Yuugi's presence had always been the spirit now felt nothing at all. It was an incredibly lonely feeling.

With no real need to act immediately and no other ideas to try, the spirit sighed and slumped into Yuugi's desk chair, putting his head in his hands. It wasn't supposed to be like this. He had chosen to stay to be _with_ Yuugi, not to have Yuugi taken away forever. He growled in frustration; there must be _something_ he could do.

Instead of doing anything constructive, however, the spirit now remembered Yuugi's worries about the strange man they had bumped into (Marik, he reminded himself), and how he had rationalized away Yuugi's fears. How could he have been so stupid? That golden rod had obviously been a Millennium Item; he was willing to bet that if he had really looked at it—something which he obviously _should_ have done—it would have been marked with the same eye that the other Items held. But dwelling on the past wasn't going to do much to help Yuugi in the present; the spirit needed to think of something that he could do _now_.

Yuugi's rescue of Jounouchi sprung to the spirit's mind again. Yuugi had told Jounouchi the story of how they met, which, the spirit now realised, was something that had significance for Jounouchi—for both of them, really. Perhaps he could do the same thing? The spirit cast around with his mind for something he could use. The time Yuugi had released him from the puzzle was out: Yuugi couldn't remember it, and the spirit thought Yuugi wouldn't be entirely happy if he had a full account of what had happened. The first time they had spoken, when they were dueling Pegasus, might work—but the spirit wasn't sure that it would be enough. The time when Otogi had stolen his Puzzle would be, but the spirit hadn't been present for it (what with the Puzzle having been stolen and all), and he was almost certain that Yuugi had left some things out when he retold it.

The spirit couldn't think of any other stories he could tell, but perhaps there was something else that could remind Yuugi of himself. Obviously, the Millennium Puzzle and things relating to it weren't going to work; Yuugi had been wearing it all along and that hadn't done anything. A game would be the spirit's next choice, but he would have to get Yuugi to play it first. And none of that was going to do much of anything if he couldn't even contact Yuugi.

The spirit's thoughts continued in this vein until Yuugi's mother called him to dinner. He didn't particularly feel like eating, but Yuugi's family might worry if he didn't show up, and they didn't need that. He didn't engage in conversation, answering any questions in monosyllables, and afterwards he shut himself in his room again and did his best to distract himself with some of Yuugi's single-player games. It wasn't terribly effective, but it was better than running his mind around in circles worrying.

* * *

The spirit didn't leave his room at all the next morning. He hadn't even wanted to get out of bed at first, but it became too frustrating just lying around thinking about what had happened; he hadn't even come up with any new ideas to fix the problem. Yuugi's morning routine wasn't much of a distraction, even though the spirit couldn't do it nearly as mechanically as Yuugi could, and card solitaire didn't prove to be much better. Around noon, though, Yuugi's mother interrupted him by knocking on his door, saying, "Yuugi, are you going to come out today? Your friends came to see you."

The spirit pushed the cards from his half-finished game into a pile and went downstairs to greet his friends.

"We felt bad that you had to miss going to the amusement park with us yesterday, so we decided to drop by," Anzu said, by way of explanation.

"Honda couldn't come because he had to watch his nephew, but he says hi," Jounouchi added. "So, what did you have to do yesterday that was so important?"

"Um," the spirit said, trying to think of something to say. He had the feeling that neither "We walked around town all day," nor "Aibou bumped into this strange man and now he's controlling aibou's mind," were really appropriate right now. Finally he said, "Tried to buy a duel disk."

"One of those things Kaiba's making?" Jounouchi asked, trying (and failing) to sound derisive of the devices. "Did you get it?"

"No, it was too expensive," the spirit replied. "Listen, there's something I need to talk to you about. In private. Would you mind coming up to my room?" He didn't really want to trouble his friends with what had happened, but he figured that where he couldn't think of anything, they might be able to.

Anzu, who had been watching the spirit intently, now said, "You're not—you're the other Yuugi, aren't you? What happened to him?"

The spirit nodded. "That's what I wanted to talk to you about. Come on."

He led his friends up the stairs and into Yuugi's room, shutting the door behind them. "Yesterday, after aibou tried to buy his Duel Disk, he ran into a strange man who had what I think was one of the Millennium Items. Ever since a short time after that, he's been acting very... odd." That was probably the understatement of the century, but the spirit didn't want to go into everything that had happened right now. It wasn't important, and would probably only worry them needlessly. "When I tried to contact him, I couldn't feel his mental presence. It was—I ended up having to take off the Millennium Puzzle." He gestured to the Puzzle, which was lying next to him on the desk, the same place he had put it the previous night.

"Wait, I thought you came from the Millennium Puzzle or something," said Jounouchi. "Shouldn't taking it off put Yuugi back in control?"

The spirit shrugged in response. "I've done it before and the same thing happened then, too. As far as I can tell, taking the Puzzle off just prevents us from talking to each other."

"Maybe this is the same as what happened to Jounouchi," Anzu said, looking over at him. "Could you do the same thing that Yuugi did then?"

"I did think about that, but I don't know how. I'm not even sure what exactly he did," the spirit said. After a moment's pause, he added, "I miss him."

Jounouchi and Anzu grew quiet for a while; the spirit thought they were probably racking their brains for ideas of how to help Yuugi. He knew that he probably should, too, but every time he tried his mind always went back to Yuugi: his smile, his laugh, the look of determination he got when he was doing something important. The spirit would do anything to protect Yuugi.

On impulse, the spirit reached out to pick the Millennium Puzzle up from where it lay on the desk. He hadn't forgotten the other presence he had felt when he had tried to contact Yuugi before, but...

 _Other me? Is that you?_ an unexpectedly familiar voice asked the spirit. In his shock at hearing the voice of someone he had expected to still be unable to speak to him, the spirit nearly dropped the Puzzle, but he managed to grab hold of it before it slipped completely from his grasp. _Did something happen? I couldn't sense you; did you lose the Puzzle?_

 _Aibou,_ was all the spirit said in reply, a small smile turning up the corners his lips before he allowed Yuugi to take control of their shared body again.

* * *

To say Yuugi wasn't entirely sure what was happening would be an understatement. Somehow, as he had been walking home after his attempt to buy a Duel Disk, he had ended up in the Millennium Puzzle, unable to even sense his other self's presence. Based on the way he was holding it in his hands now, he figured the other Yuugi must have taken it off, although he had no idea why. The other Yuugi certainly hadn't told him anything.

 _Other me, could you_ please _explain to me what is going on?_ he asked, feeling confused and a bit upset that he hadn't been told anything.

The other Yuugi's reply was a few moments in coming. _It's a long story. I think it might be better to wait until we're alone before telling you._

Yuugi realised that Anzu and Jounouchi were in the room with him too, and had been there all along, talking between themselves, although he had been too preoccupied to notice before now.

"Er, hello," he said awkwardly, not exactly sure how he should react in this situation.

"Hello?" Anzu said, sounding confused. "We were just talking to you. You invited us up here, remember?"

"I think that was the other me," Yuugi replied, feeling very weird about this explanation. "Now it's me. Yuugi, I mean. The original one."

" _Yuugi?!_ " Anzu and Jounouchi said, almost simultaneously. "The other you said he couldn't talk to you," Jounouchi added.

"I couldn't talk to him either. I thought he had taken the Puzzle off," Yuugi admitted. "He said he would explain everything when you guys were done here."

"Yeah, I understand. We'll leave so you two can talk in private, okay?" Anzu said, giving a pointed look to Jounouchi.

"I didn't mean you had to go right now," Yuugi said quickly.

"Yeah, and I want to listen. This could be interesting," protested Jounouchi.

"Want to listen to what?" Anzu asked, rolling her eyes. "Half a conversation? You know we wouldn't be able to hear what the other Yuugi says anyways." She turned to Yuugi then and smiled. "And it's fine. We already got the short version, and I think it's something you need to know."

"Yeah, I guess," Jounouchi said, sounding defeated. "Tell us if anything interesting happens," he called back as he followed Anzu out of Yuugi's room and down the stairs.

"Don't worry, I will!" Yuugi called after them. "See you tomorrow!"

"Alright," he added to his other self, who had materialized while he was saying goodbye to his friends. "What was it that you wanted to tell me?"

 _You remember the strange man you bumped into on the street?_ Yuugi nodded in response. _You were right to be worried about him. I think he was Marik, and the gold rod he handed you was a Millennium Item. Shortly after that, you began acting extremely strange._ He proceeded to relate the whole incident to Yuugi in considerably more detail than he had given their friends.

"I tried to _kill myself_?!" Yuugi all but shouted, before he remembered that the other people in the house could hear him and lowered his voice. "And that other presence you felt in my mind—I don't remember any of that. Are you sure it really happened?"

 _Do you think I imagined it, or that I'd lie to you?_ the other Yuugi asked, sounding hurt.

"No, I'm sorry," Yuugi said. It was little more than a whisper, but he knew his other self would have no trouble hearing. "It's just too hard to believe that I would do something like that—and now I've completely forgotten it?"

 _It's hard for me to believe, too. That's why I was so worried,_ the other Yuugi replied, bringing his hand to rest comfortingly on Yuugi's shoulder. Yuugi allowed himself to smile at this: even if he was just a spirit (and the other Yuugi was much more than _just_ a spirit), knowing that someone was there for him made Yuugi feel a bit better.

 _You know, this whole thing seems a little like you when I first finished the Millennium Puzzle,_ Yuugi said after a moment's thought, switching to his mental voice so as not to be overheard. He could see a dark look cross his other self's face, and could sense his distress at having the topic brought up—the other Yuugi, Yuugi knew, was not proud of some of the things he had done when he was first released from the Puzzle—but he continued nonetheless. If this could help them understand what had happened to him, then it would be worthwhile. _Think about it: I start acting completely differently from my normal self for a while, and when it's over, I can't remember anything that happened. You even said you sensed someone else's presence in my mind!_

 _Of course! You're right!_ the other Yuugi said, allowing his hand to fall from Yuugi's shoulder. _I think you know what we should do._ On his face was the same half-concentrated, half-cocky look he got when playing a game he knew he could win. He snatched Yuugi's hand and, almost simultaneously, both of them traveled to their soul rooms.

As Yuugi glanced around his soul room (everything seemed fairly normal), he realised that the other Yuugi's grabbing of his hand before they left had been pretty useless. Both of them still appeared in their own soul rooms here, after all, and the other Yuugi's manifestation in the real world would disappear when he left it. That wasn't important, though, so Yuugi pushed open the door to the corridor that connected his soul room with the other Yuugi's soul room, looking for him. It seemed that the other Yuugi had taken slightly less time to think; Yuugi could see him just leaving his own soul room. Yuugi stepped out as well.

It only took a cursory glance to tell Yuugi that the corridor they were both in was the same as always. "Well, I don't see an extra door here or anything like that," he said to the other Yuugi, feeling darkly amused at how pointless this all seemed now. "Do you have any idea what we're looking for?"

"No," the other Yuugi admitted. "I thought that there might be something obvious that I missed when I was looking for you before. He was only affecting you, though; maybe there's something in your soul room?"

"I didn't see anything wrong before," Yugi said, "but I can check again if you want."

Yuugi re-entered his soul room to take a closer look, with the other Yuugi poking his head in behind him, but even now Yuugi didn't see anything that looked like it didn't belong, something he told his other self.

"I don't know what this place is supposed to look like," the other Yuugi said (Yuugi had expected that; he didn't remember his other self ever coming in before), "but I'll take your word for it."

"Maybe he's gone?" Yuugi wasn't sure how much he actually believed this, and how much he was just being hopeful, but, well, it would be the best possible outcome. "I mean, we couldn't find anything obviously wrong, so as long as nothing else happens, I'd say that it was only a one-time thing."

The other Yuugi took a moment to think before he replied to Yuugi. "You might be right. We'll keep an eye out just to make sure, but..." He didn't need to finish the sentence; Yuugi was thinking the same thing.

"Yeah, alright," Yuugi replied, smiling slightly, relieved that what had happened was probably not going to happen again. "I'll warn my friends about that guy next time we see them." Yuugi allowed himself to leave the soul room, again taking control of his body.


	5. In Which There is a Calm Before The Storm

When Yuugi returned to school the next day he explained to his friends the conclusions he and the other Yuugi had come to during their conversation the previous night, about the man who was probably Marik and the lack of any immediate danger to him, and provided them all with a description of the strange man he had met before the... _incident_.

"Hey, I remember seeing a guy like that, too," Jounouchi said when Yuugi had finished talking. "I didn't pay attention 'cause he didn't look dangerous, but it was just before you guys say I disappeared, too."

"All right, that settles it. After school, we go find this guy and make him sorry he ever messed with us," Honda said, cracking his knuckles with a look on his face that said he wanted to kick someone's ass right here and now.

"I don't think that's going to work very well," Anzu replied, though she sounded as though she wished it was. "We don't even know where he is." She gave a sardonic laugh.

"Anyways, with his Millennium Item, he'd probably just do the same thing to you that he did to me and Jounouchi," Yuugi added, although some rarely voiced part of him quietly thought that it _would_ be easier if they could just beat Marik up. He squashed that thought before it could get any farther. "So, um, who wants to go to the arcade after school?" he asked after a moment, figuring the group could use a change in conversational topic (and possibly a way to let off some steam).

* * *

The next few days passed relatively normally, although Yuugi could tell that his friends were on the alert for a man matching the description he had given them. Not that he was surprised; both he and the other Yuugi were also being extra-vigilant. But it wasn't until Thursday that either of them really thought about anything more than avoiding Marik.

It hadn't started as any sort of battle plan, of course. Yuugi hadn't had much homework to do for the following day (and didn't, as a general rule, start his work earlier than he had to), so to pass the time he sat down to play a board game with the other Yuugi.

"It's been a while since we did anything like this," Yuugi remarked a few minutes into the game, letting the dice fall from his hand. They came up four and one. "Five, so I get to put my last piece in," he added, placing it on the board.

_What about the other day, when you took me to the museum and we went to the arcade instead?_ the other Yuugi asked. He gestured for Yuugi to roll the dice for him, which Yuugi realised he had forgotten to do. _I'd say that was similar._

"Oh yeah! But we haven't done much besides that day. Which piece?" The other Yuugi pointed to his choice, and Yuugi moved it the number of spaces indicated by the dice. "I can't believe I forgot about that," he added as he made his own dice roll. "I had so much fun that day. We should do that again some time."

_Perhaps we should skip the part where you get your mind taken over and try to kill yourself next time,_ the other Yuugi suggested, sounding amused.

Yuugi chuckled, feeling a bit surprised that they were at the point of making jokes about that so soon. "Yeah, that might be for the best." He moved his own piece three spaces forward. "Although... I do wonder what we should do about Marik. It doesn't seem like a very good idea to just let him keep wandering around."

_You're right, I don't like that much either,_ the other Yuugi said, watching Yuugi's turn. He winced as Yuugi used his roll of two fours to capture one of his pieces. _That was good luck getting a second roll, but you'll need more than that to beat—What? You blocked me in? How—?_

Yuugi just shrugged, but came as near to smirking as he ever did as he looked at the two pieces preventing the other Yuugi from putting the recently captured piece back on the board. "You _did_ say I'd need more than just luck to win."

In other games, this was the point at which the other Yuugi would make some sweeping pronouncements about what he was fighting for and why his opponent could never beat him. But it was only a friendly game, and his opponent was only Yuugi, so he just sighed instead. _The only way I can think to stop Marik is challenge him to a Shadow Game,_ he said, coming back to their earlier topic of conversation as Yuugi cast the dice again for his roll, though he didn't indicate where he wanted to move his piece. _Should I do that?_

Yuugi shook his head hard, and exclaimed "No!" a bit too loudly before remembering that he shouldn't be speaking out loud. _No. Those things are horrible! There must be something else we can do._

_Well, we could get him to challenge_ us _to a Shadow Game,_ the other Yuugi said, though Yuugi could tell that he didn't expect this suggestion to be taken seriously.

Yuugi smiled a little at that, even though it wasn't much of a joke. _I'm worried, though. If we don't stop him, he could do it again. We can't be on our guards all the time, and he could just use someone else to get to us, anyways. Or play Shadow Games against them; that would be bad too._

_You refuse to let anyone play Shadow Games, we couldn't beat him up even if you would be okay with that, and we certainly can't go to the authorities with our problems..._ The other Yuugi trailed off here, but Yuugi understood his meaning well enough.

_I guess you're right about the authorities,_ Yuugi said. _I mean, what would we tell them—'There's someone called Marik running around controlling people's minds and playing Shadow Games with them. Oh, Shadow Games are these evil magical games which cause the losers to go crazy; I know because the other me who lives inside my head used to play them against people'? They'd probably throw me in the insane asylum for that._

The other Yuugi chuckled darkly. _They'd take away the Puzzle, too, once they knew I came from there._ Yuugi joined in with his other self's laughter, though he wondered why he did; he wasn't usually one to joke about danger. Though, on the other hand, the danger he'd been in before had always been much more _present_.

_Seriously, though, this is bad. It seems like there's nothing we can do, but we can't just do nothing._ Yuugi was beginning to feel as though he wanted to cry, and maybe he would have if it weren't for the other Yuugi being just on the other side of the game board from him. He wondered if it would be okay to hug the other Yuugi for comfort, but it would be too weird to just ask for something like that.

_I know what you mean,_ the other Yuugi said, turning serious as well. _But I will tell you, aibou, if he ever hurts you, I_ will not _hesitate to destroy him in a Shadow Game._

"I guess I'll just have to make sure not to get hurt, then," Yuugi murmured, scooting closer to the other Yuugi, feeling that even if throwing his arms around the other was out of the question, getting a little closer couldn't hurt. Belatedly, he realised that his movement had knocked some of the pieces on the game board out of position, but it probably didn't matter. They hadn't really been playing since the topic of Marik came up anyways.

_Of course, if you really want to make sure nothing horrible happens to him,_ the other Yuugi said, giving Yuugi a look that he couldn't quite figure out, _you'd better make sure Anzu doesn't find him either. I wouldn't want to be the person on the receiving end of her anger._

Yuugi laughed out loud at the joke, even though he knew it wasn't that funny. It was either that or cry. "She is pretty scary when she's mad," he said when his laughter had died down a little. "She even used to boss Honda and Jounouchi around back before they were our friends." He shifted closer again so that their arms brushed—it wasn't what he really wanted, but the contact was comforting. The other Yuugi didn't seem to mind.

They sat like that, shoulder-to-shoulder, long into the night, discussing the future and making unfunny jokes to distract themselves from the hopelessness of their situation.

* * *

When his alarm went off the next morning, Yuugi wondered whether he could ignore it and pretend to be sick. He certainly felt tired enough; he had stayed up far too late the previous night talking to the other Yuugi. The splitting headache that showed up shortly after made up his mind for him, though. He had probably fallen back asleep by the time his mother came in to yell at him to get up, because it didn't even seem like a second later.

"Yuugi, what are you doing? It's almost time for you to leave and you haven't even gotten out of bed," she said, sounding annoyed.

"Don't feel good. Headache," Yuugi grunted, barely lifting his head from the pillow. The movement caused the Millennium Puzzle to dig somewhat painfully into his ribs; he must not have put it on the table when he went to bed last night. At least he seemed to have unlooped the chain from his neck; otherwise it would probably have strangled him in his sleep. That would have been somewhat ironic, he thought with as much amusement as he could muster in his current state, if the very thing which housed the spirit who protected him had also been the cause of his death.

Yuugi's mother was yelling at him again, but all he was able to get out of that was that loud noise made his head hurt more, as did the light that came in when she drew the curtains. He groaned and tried to bury his head in the pillows, wishing that the other Yuugi could do something about this.

It was as Yuugi was wondering whether his headache would be better or worse in his soul room that his mother pulled his pillow away. He opened his eyes to look at her, and—ow. That had been a mistake. His headache was feeling worse than ever.

_Aibou, are you alright?_ a familiar voice asked in Yuugi's head, and he clutched the Millennium Puzzle to him like some sort of charm.

"Head hurts," Yuugi replied, the pain making him forget that speaking out loud to the other Yuugi might not be a great idea when his mother was in the room with him.

_I could tell,_ the other Yuugi said, and Yuugi remembered that they shared things like headaches. _If there's anything I can help you with, though..._

Yuugi didn't answer, but they both knew there wasn't much someone without his own body could do to help. He wondered idly whether he looked as miserable as he felt.

"You do look like you're feeling pretty bad, though. I guess you can stay home," Yuugi's mother said, answering his unspoken question. She put her hand on his forehead. "You'd better not be coming down with something," Yuugi heard her add as she walked out of his room, and thought he could hear her saying something else, probably to his grandpa, but he was too busy arranging the pillow she had given back to him under his head to care much.

The next time Yuugi opened his eyes, he had to look at his clock again to make sure he hadn't read the time wrong. "Other me, does that clock say what I think it does?"

_Probably,_ the other Yuugi said. It was pretty clear that he hadn't bothered checking. _Did we sleep late?_

" _Really_ late. At least I'm feeling better than I was." Yuugi's stomach grumbled a little, and he suddenly remembered that he hadn't eaten breakfast yet—or lunch, for that matter. "I think maybe I should go look for something to eat." Yuugi went downstairs to prepare himself a sandwich, giving assurance that he was feeling much better now to his grandfather along the way.

A few hours after his meal, Yuugi was sprawled out on the couch, watching TV. He was feeling a bit bored: it was showing some history special his grandfather had put on, which didn't really interest him, but even after his long sleep and his lunch Yuugi didn't have the energy to do much else at the moment. He hadn't even bothered to change the channel when his grandfather left to go back to minding the shop.

It was only natural, then, that Yuugi had no idea that his friends had come over until they burst into the room.

"Hey, Yuugi, are you doin' okay?" Jounouchi asked, looking more worried than Yuugi had seen him around anyone but his sister before.

"When you didn't show up to school we were afraid something had happened," Honda added.

Anzu nodded. "I brought you our homework so you don't miss anything," she said, handing Yuugi a few papers from her backpack.

Yuugi smiled at their concern. "I just had a bad headache this morning, that's all. I probably stayed up too late talking to the other me last night."

"Make sure you take care of yourself better next time," Anzu told him, the sort of anger in her voice that Yuugi could tell was really just disguised concern. "I don't want you getting really sick on us."

Yuugi merely nodded his agreement (he really didn't want another headache like the one he had gotten that morning, after all), but Jounouchi jumped in to defend him all the same. "C'mon, Anzu, Yuugi's a man. He doesn't need you to tell him what to do."

Yuugi tried telling Jounouchi that he didn't mind, but he didn't think anyone heard him over Anzu's very angry response. Jounouchi and Anzu were definitely arguing now, with Honda jumping in to make points for both sides, and Yuugi was worrying over whether or not he should stop them.

_I think they can handle this themselves. They certainly do it often enough._ Yuugi jumped; the other Yuugi hadn't said anything to him since just after he'd woken up, and Yuugi hadn't been expecting him to speak now.

_You're probably right,_ Yuugi said when he had gotten over his surprise. _I wouldn't mind if they stopped soon, though._

The other Yuugi laughed knowingly, though he didn't have a chance to reply: Anzu had stopped arguing so that she could ask Yuugi what he had been talking about so late, anyways.

"It was about Marik. We were wondering what we should do to stop him. Neither of us really liked the idea of just letting him be."

"Did you come up with anything?" Anzu asked.

"I bet he didn't," said Jounouchi. "I met the guy too; there's no way we could defeat him right now."

"Having him take over your mind once does not make you an instant expert on Marik," Honda replied. Yuugi could not help a sigh escaping him at the resumption of his friends' arguing.

"Sorry, Yuugi," Anzu said, even though this time she had not been involved. "What did you come up with?"

"Well, the other me thinks that if we played a Shadow Game against him, we would win. I don't want to, but if he challenges us..."

"It's true that he does seem to be after you in particular," Honda said, nodding.

"You'd better be able to defeat him, then," Anzu said. "I would hate to think about what would happen if you didn't."

Yuugi nodded. "I was hoping it wouldn't have to come to that, though. If there was some other way to stop him..."

"We'll work on it. Right, boys?" This last part was said to Jounouchi and Honda with what could only be described as a warning tone of voice.

"Of course we will!" Jounouchi and Honda said, almost in unison.

"I knew I could count on you!" Yuugi said, feeling relieved. He was sure that with all his friends thinking, too, they could come up with something.

They sat in silence for a moment, and Yuugi couldn't tell whether they were all thinking or simply had nothing else to say, until Anzu glanced at the clock. "I hope you don't mind, but I have to go now," she said, turning towards the door.

"Don't worry, it's fine with me," Yuugi said. He didn't want to keep her from anything important, after all.

"Thanks for that. We should see each other again soon!"

"If you guys want to leave, too, that would be okay," Yuugi added to Jounouchi and Honda when Anzu had left the room.

"I guess I do have some errands I need to run," Jounouchi said, though he sounded like he would rather not. "Tell you what, though. Meet me in the park in about an hour and we can play some duel monsters, okay?"

Yuugi perked up at the suggestion. "Yeah, that sounds great! Should we tell Anzu?"

"I'll get her," Honda said. "She can't have gone that far."

"Well, see 'ya, I guess," Jounouchi said to Yuugi as he followed Honda out the door.

"See you!" Yuugi called back, feeling happy.

Yuugi spent the time until he had to leave going through his deck again to make sure all the cards he wanted were there, occasionally consulting with the other Yuugi when he wasn't sure about something. "I bet everyone would like it if you played a round or two," he said to the other Yuugi as he put his deck in the special belt pouch he had gotten after Duelist Kingdom.

_This is your game with your friends. I wouldn't want to intrude._

"It's not like you're making me do this or anything. I wouldn't offer if I wasn't okay with it," Yuugi said, smiling a little.

_Then I thank you, but I think I'll sit this one out,_ the other Yuugi said, sounding more relaxed.

"Alright, but if you change your mind that's fine with me," Yuugi said as he turned to leave his room. Before he crossed into the hall, though, he turned back to stick a deck of playing cards in his pocket, just in case his friends decided they wanted to play something else.

Yuugi explained to his grandfather that he was feeling much better, and anyways, fresh air would probably do him some good, and then he was off to meet up with Jounouchi. As he walked toward the park, though, it came into his mind that he needed to go to Domino's harbor to meet someone. He could not remember having been asked to do so, and had not been down there since Jounouchi's disappearance, but nonetheless his feet turned onto another route, one that would take him to the docks.


	6. In Which a Battle is Fought

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm really sorry about the long wait! Life got in the way and then I decided to write a novel, plus this chapter needed a _major_ rewrite from my first draft (everyone originally got really ooc in the second half). But at least I've got a double-length chapter this time around, and we're reaching the exciting conclusion. And don't worry about me abandoning it—we've gotten so close to the end it really wouldn't be worthwhile.

The spirit of the Millennium Puzzle knew that Yuugi was planning to meet up with Jounouchi, so when Yuugi stepped out the game shop's door, the spirit didn't pay much attention to where he went. Even when Yuugi ended up at the bus stop, the spirit wasn't terribly perturbed; sure, the nearest park was withing walking distance, but perhaps Yuugi needed to do something before meeting up with Jounouchi, and needed to take a bus to get there. Or perhaps the spirit had been mistaken about which park, Yuugi had agreed to meet Jounouchi at one further away. There was more than one park in Domino City, after all.

When the spirit noticed where Yuugi got off the bus he began to feel a little concern; while there _were_ places that Yuugi could be going in the area, it wasn't very close to much; it was even beyond downtown. If there was anything _that_ urgent that Yuugi needed to do around here the spirit should have known about it. Unless—there was a possibility that Yuugi had just forgotten to tell him about it, though it was unlikely. The spirit fervently hoped that was all that was going on here, and not... other things.

 _Aibou,_ he said, not bothering to hide the concern in his voice, _what are we doing down here?_ Yuugi ignored him.

The spirit tried again. _Why are we here, aibou? I need you to tell me!_ He knew he was beginning to sound frantic now, but Yuugi continued to ignore him.

This was bad. The spirit had sort of assumed that Yuugi didn't have to worry about being controlled again after he had gotten over it the first time, but this seemed like exactly the same thing. If Marik could control Yuugi at any time, though... The spirit didn't even want to think about what would happen if Yuugi couldn't snap out of this.

There had to be something he do to save Yuugi. The spirit's thoughts went back to the previous time Yuugi had been under Marik's control; back then he had thought about how to help Yuugi. He had dismissed them at the time, but just maybe—.

 _Do you remember Duelist Kingdom?_ he asked, deciding to implement the only real idea he'd had. _When I was dueling Pegasus it seemed hopeless; he was reading every strategy I had. But then you called me to our soul room and suggested the mind shuffle that allowed us to beat him. That was the first time we talked. You didn't give up either, even when you were about to collapse._ There—the spirit sensed a flash of recognition from Yuugi, but it was too short. He needed more. _But we won, thanks to you. We saved your grandfather and Jounouchi's sister._ But it still wasn't enough. The spirit cursed his story-telling ability: he'd gone through it too fast, and now he needed another one. _What about the time Otogi stole the Puzzle? You battled him—and won—and then you solved it again in that burning building._ Yuugi didn't react this time, and the spirit fell silent for a moment. The only other thing he could think to remind Yuugi of was the end of their last duel with Kaiba, though he knew that was a rather painful memory for both of them. Still, he did his best, but again, nothing happened.

After a few more moments of thought, the spirit came to the only conclusion he could: he would have to take control of their body until someone found a way to save Yuugi; possibly he would have to take control for good. Probably for good, if he continued being as useful as he had so far. Yuugi would lose the life he'd had, and probably those friends he couldn't tell, but if there was no other way...

It was with a heavy heart that the spirit projected himself outward. He knew that it would not help the situation—in fact, Yuugi probably wouldn't even remember it at all—but he couldn't just take over Yuugi's life without saying _something_ first.

 _I'm sorry, aibou,_ he said, putting his hand on Yuugi's shoulder. Yuugi stopped walking. This surprised the spirit, who had expected Yuugi to continue ignoring him, but it wasn't enough to say that Yuugi was no longer under Marik's control. _I wish I could have found some other way to save you. I probably should have, but I know you'll understand._ And he knew Yuugi _would_ understand, probably too well for his tastes. The spirit almost wanted Yuugi to yell at him and get angry the way he knew he deserved for failing at this. But he knew Yuugi far too well to expect that. So he put his arms around Yuugi's shoulders and pulled him into an awkward sort of hug, unsure who he was even supposed to be comforting. _I'm sorry,_ he said again as he pulled away, and, on impulse, he turned to kiss Yuugi on the cheek.

The spirit could remember Yuugi joking about them kissing before, the day they had met Marik the first time, but this wasn't the sort of kiss that either of them had been thinking of then. This was a sad kiss, a goodbye kiss. It wasn't a permanent goodbye, exactly, not for the spirit, but feared he would be taking the entire world from Yuugi...

He pulled away completely, then, and stared at Yuugi's feet, unable to bring himself to even look Yuugi in the eye, let alone take control of their body. He saw Yuugi take a step towards him, probably to continue on to wherever he was going. He knew he should probably stop Yuugi now, but before the spirit could even begin to dematerialize, he felt Yuugi's arms wrap around him in a much tighter hug. Shocked, he snapped his head up to look at Yuugi's face, trying to see what was going on. He only got the barest glimpse, though—just enough to have the impression that his eyes were much too clear and too bright for someone whose mind was being controlled—before Yuugi's mouth covered his in their second kiss in as many minutes.

The spirit was too shocked to do anything but stand there as Yuugi kissed him—probably making it the worst kiss in the history of kisses, the one part of his mind that was still working told him. Well, maybe not the _worst_ kiss: it was Yuugi, and the spirit was quickly discovering that he didn't mind getting any sort of kiss from Yuugi.

It was impossible to tell exactly how long the kiss lasted, but the spirit hadn't had quite enough time to get his thoughts completely in order before Yuugi pulled away. "I'm sorry," Yuugi said, blushing. "I couldn't think of any other way to get rid of him."

The spirit simply smiled hugely. _Aibou! You're back!_

* * *

It was strange, commented a small part of Yuugi's mind that seemed detached from the rest, that Yuugi had such an urge to visit the port right now. Even the reason he gave himself—to meet someone—didn't make any sense, since he didn't know anyone who would be there. Still, Yuugi's desire to go outweighed the objections of any voice in the back of his mind, so he walked to the bus stop and got onto the next bus headed in the right direction. It was not a bus that take him directly to the port (that bus didn't stop near Yuugi's home), but Yuugi didn't mind much. He had time.

When Yuugi eventually got off, he was just at the far edge of downtown. It was about twenty minutes' walk from his destination, but that was as close as this particular bus came. The streets were practically deserted, a situation that wasn't terribly surprising given that it was mid-afternoon on a weekday, but a small bit of Yuugi (the same bit that had noticed the strangeness of the situation earlier) felt uncomfortable all the same. The rest would probably not have cared even if a herd of elephants was stampeding around him.

After a few moments of walking, Yuugi hard the voice of his other self calling out to him, asking what he was doing. He ignored it; he didn't need the other Yuugi. The same small part of his mind found this very strange, but he pushed it aside. He didn't need those thoughts, either. The other Yuugi spoke again, this time about their time at Duelist Kingdom. Yuugi remembered that—he remembered coming up with the idea for the mind shuffle, and he remembered forcing himself to play until he collapsed from the strain of keeping up the Shadow Game—but then the story was over, and he also remembered that he had to get to the docks. The other Yuugi was talking again, this time about Otogi, but he clearly didn't know enough to hold Yuugi's attention.

There was a pause during which Yuugi hoped he might be allowed to continue undisturbed, but then the other Yuugi spoke again, about their last duel with Seto Kaiba. That memory, however, was painful enough that even the small voice in the back of Yuugi's head had no problem ignoring it, so Yuugi continued on his way. but that same part of his mind, which seemed to have gotten bigger than before, wished that the other Yuugi had kept talking about something less painful, though, even if the rest was glad that the distraction was gone. He blinked. He had never considered his other self a distraction before.

The silence only lasted a few moments, though, before the other Yuugi put his hand on Yuugi's shoulder. Yuugi stopped, and the other Yuugi spoke again. _I'm sorry, aibou,_ he said, although Yuugi didn't know what his other self had to apologise for. If anything, Yuugi thought he should be the one apologising, though he didn't know why. The other Yuugi was explaining himself now, but Yuugi felt like someone was yelling at him to keep moving. He knew he should probably do that, but he wanted to hear what his other self was saying, and walking could wait. But he had been too distracted with his internal debate to listen much, so all he managed to catch was _...I know you'll understand._ Yuugi didn't know what he was supposed to understand, but suddenly it didn't matter because the other Yuugi had wrapped his arms around Yuugi's shoulders and he was being hugged by his other self and he felt happy, so happy that the other Yuugi was hugging him like this that it didn't even matter that that voice in his head (because it _was_ a voice in his head and how had Yuugi not realised that earlier?) was screaming _What are you doing? Just push him off and keep going!_ because Yuugi didn't want to push the other Yuugi off. He _liked_ being hugged by his other self.

All too soon, though, the other Yuugi let go and began to pull out of the hug, apologising again. Yuugi wanted to follow him and wrap his arms around him again, but before he could do anything the other Yuugi had turned his head to brush his lips against Yuugi's cheek, and Yuugi suddenly understood what he had really wanted when he had wished to hug the other Yuugi. The kiss was brief and, if he could still read his other self's feelings, sad, but for just that moment Yuugi had complete clarity of thought: he knew that the feelings he had toward his other self, feelings he had always dismissed as nothing more than exceptionally close friendship, where truly love, even more than his feelings toward Anzu had ever been; he knew that he wanted to kiss his other self more than anything right now; and he knew, almost instinctively, that if he waited to do so the haze he had been in before would come back, and he would never be able to. So, as soon as he had gotten his thoughts in order, he stepped towards the other Yuugi, who must have moved back at some point, and, feeling fortunate that the other Yuugi had looked up as he did so, kissed his other self straight on the lips.

For a few moments, Yuugi was in heaven: though he hadn't realised until now, he had wanted to kiss his other self for he didn't even know how long. It was hard to tell when he had spent so long convinced that those feelings didn't really exist. But after those few moments, he noticed that the other Yuugi was standing stiff as a board, his lips pressed tightly together. He wasn't enjoying this. Yuugi pulled away, wishing that he hadn't been quite so impulsive. "I'm sorry," he said, feeling his cheeks burn. "I couldn't think of any other way to get rid of him." Because, after all, he hadn't heard anything from that voice in his head since his lips touched those of the other Yuugi.

The other Yuugi didn't seem to be as bothered as Yuugi had feared, though, because when Yuugi finished speaking, he gave what might be the happiest smile Yuugi had ever seen on him and said, _Aibou! You're back!_

"Yeah. I'm back." Yuugi said, smiling again. He half wanted to collapse against his other self and rest, even though the exhaustion he was feeling was more mental than physical, but that wasn't really an option right now, so he put his hand on the other Yuugi's shoulder instead. "I'm really happy that's over with."

The other Yuugi nodded. _I thought I really had lost you there. I was afraid I would have had to take over our body permanently if you hadn't done that,_ he said, removing Yuugi's hand from his shoulder to clasp it between his own hands. Yuugi tried not to think too hard about what that meant.

"That wouldn't have been so bad," Yuugi said. "I mean, you live like that all the time," he added after the other Yuugi reacted with shock. "I'm sure I could have done it, too."

 _But it is_ your _body, not mine, and we are different people._

It was true: although Yuugi called him "the other me", the other Yuugi was not really at all like him, but Yuugi didn't think that it mattered that much in this argument. "I would still have you, though, and my friends. I don't need much more than that."

 _If you say so,_ the other Yuugi said, though he sounded unconvinced.

"I do. And, while we're on the topic, what should we do about my friends? They must be worried that I haven't shown up yet."

_We should find Marik first. Our friends might worry, but if we wait too long he might figure out that something is wrong._

"But what could we do? We haven't been able to think of any way to stop him."

 _We cannot simply let him get away,_ the other Yuugi said, his voice filled with barely controlled anger. _What he nearly did to you was unforgivable._

"But he didn't actually hurt me!" Yuugi said, putting his other hand on the other Yuugi's. "We can't just punish him based on what he wanted to do."

 _He intended to, though. Just because he didn't succeed doesn't mean he wouldn't have done it if he could have,_ the other Yuugi replied, but Yuugi was only half listening. He had just noticed a couple of people staring at him from some distance away, and realised what a sight he must look to them, having an argument with the empty air in front of him. He was probably lucky that the street was relatively deserted.

 _I think we should maybe move. People are starting to stare,_ he said, feeling a little embarrassed.

 _I guess we were a little distracted,_ the other Yuugi said as Yuugi began to walk away, dragging the other Yuugi behind him. They shifted the their hands a little to be more comfortable when walking next to each other, but neither one let go. Yuugi told himself that it probably meant nothing, but a part of him couldn't help but feel hopeful in spite of himself.

Yuugi decided that the other Yuugi was right about needing to fight Marik, but he still did not like the idea of going in without any sort of preparation. _We should at least get more information on Marik before we fight him. I think, um, Ishizu—that was her name, right? I think she might know something. We should ask her._

 _She might be able to help, but I'm worried that Marik will leave if we do that._ The other Yuugi said, squeezing Yuugi's hand as he spoke. Yuugi tried to ignore the funny things it was doing to his stomach.

 _Rushing in blindly won't do much good, either. We're not too far from Domino Museum; Marik might not notice if we take a little extra time. Or he might already know, in which case he'll already be gone by the time we get there, if he's going to leave at all,_ Yuugi said. He wasn't going to give this one up without a fight.

 _Alright,_ the other Yuugi replied, sounding resigned. _But if she's not there, we're not going to wait for her._

 _Right. Let's go!_ Yuugi broke into a jog toward the museum, dragging the other Yuugi, who for some reason hadn't gone back to his soul room yet, with him.

When Yuugi reached the museum, he walked right up to the ticket desk (fortunately the museum wasn't busy today, so there was no line) and said, "I need to speak to Ishizu Ishtar. Urgently."

"I'm sorry, but can you tell me the reason you want to see her? I'm afraid she has been rather busy lately."

Yuugi sighed. He didn't want to have to deal with this right now. _You want me to...?_ the other Yuugi offered.

 _Yes, thank you,_ Yuugi said, before he could finish, and they switched places.

"Just say this has to do with her personal reasons for coming to Domino City," the other Yuugi said, in a tone which made it evident he was not planning on arguing.

"Alright," said the woman, looking surprised at the apparent change in the personality of the boy standing in front of her, "but she's not here right now."

"Well, how long until she's back?" the other Yuugi demanded.

"About a half-hour, I think. I'm not exactly sure where she is."

"When she gets back, tell her I've gone to look for Marik."

The woman nodded, but as the other Yuugi turned to leave she said, "Wait, who should I say you were?"

The other Yuugi paused for a moment, before turning to her with a smirk. "Just tell her it was the Pharaoh."

 _How is it that you can always get people to listen to you?_ Yuugi asked as they left the museum.

The other Yuugi shrugged. _You just have to know how to talk to them._

 _So, what are we going to do about Marik, anyways?_ Yuugi asked. _We never decided how we were going to stop him._

 _Let's wait to see what he does first,_ the other Yuugi said, quickening his pace a little. The rest of their walk was spent in silence. Yuugi wasn't sure exactly what his other self was thinking, but his own mind was occupied with ideas of how to defeat Marik. He had hoped that Ishizu would know something that would help them, but since she wasn't there it seemed they would have to come up with a plan on their own. Yuugi intended to do as much as he could to work on that before they reached him.

Ordinarily, Yuugi would have called the walk from the museum to the port a fairly long one, but it still seemed far too short for him to think up anything resembling a plan. The other Yuugi looked around for signs of Marik, but neither he nor Yuugi noticed anything. He hadn't been sure that he wanted to fight Marik, but now that they were there, he didn't want them to be wasting their time.

The other Yuugi seemed equally frustrated by their lack of success at finding Marik, because as he passed Marik's ship the second time he cursed and kicked the ground. "Well, that was useless," he muttered angrily.

"So you came after all, Pharaoh," a voice said from behind Yuugi. "It certainly took you long enough."

The other Yuugi spun around to see the man Yuugi had knocked over the other day, holding the same golden rod he had given to Yuugi. "Marik! Why did you try to kill aibou?" he demanded.

"Aibou? Do you mean your vessel? Killing him is the only way to kill you, you know."

Yuugi could feel the anger radiating from his other self at those words. "Why do you want to kill me? What have I ever done to you?"

"What have you done to me?" Marik asked, letting out a mirthless laugh. "Don't tell me you don't know. You have been the cause of everything wrong that has happened to me."

"What? I don't even know who you are. How could I be the cause of your problems?"

"You don't know? But you— My family—" Marik paused for a bit, but then seemed to collect himself. "I am here to fight you, not talk to you."

"You're right," the other Yuugi said. "Let's do this."

"Wait," Marik said, "before I forget, let's up the stakes a bit. I have your friend under my sway; if you lose I will... Yes, I think I will have him tie himself to the anchor, and jump into the ocean." He seemed to take great pleasure in this idea.

"My friend?" the other Yuugi asked. "Who...?"

But Yuugi was looking up. _Jounouchi!_ he cried, his eyes wide.

"Jounouchi?" the other Yuugi said, feeling just as shocked as Yuugi was.

"The blond one, yes," Marik said.

"But how did you do it?" the other Yuugi asked, sounding as confused as he did angry. "Aibou saved him from that!"

"Your vessel is clever, I must admit, but I'm afraid I was still too clever for him. When I felt him begin to break through my defenses, I relinquished my hold on your friend's mind. Of course, I could still control him again whenever I wished, but _you_ didn't know that. And then, by some sort of miracle, I managed to get your vessel to hold my Millennium Rod and fall under my sway as well. Perhaps he isn't as clever as I thought, after all."

"Aibou is not my 'vessel'," the Other Yuugi snarled, "and Jounouchi is not your plaything! I _will_ defeat you! And then, you will _have_ to let Jounouchi free."

"Of course," Marik said, ignoring his previous comment. "I see that you don't have a Duel Disk." The other Yuugi glared back, but inclined his head slightly in acknowledgment. "Follow me," he said, turning and walking onto his boat.

The other Yuugi followed him on, snarling like a caged tiger all the while. Yuugi felt more nervous than enraged, though. _You have to win this,_ he said, _for Jounouchi's sake._

There was a table with two chairs already on the deck, something Yuugi felt was very convenient. With all this preparation, Marik must have been expecting a duel.

Yuugi would have laughed to see someone shuffling his cards with such anger as his other self put into it, except that he was feeling exactly the same as his other self. Still, he hoped that the other Yuugi would calm down a bit once the duel began; it wouldn't do for him to get too angry and play badly.

Marik took the first turn; luckily Yuugi's fears didn't seem to come true, because the other Yuugi began to set up his strategy in that time. Yuugi merely observed, watching Marik's strategy for some sort of hole. It seemed more defensive than anything else, as though he was merely waiting until he drew some trump card. The other Yuugi was destroying his monsters left and right, but so far he had hardly done any damage. Yuugi thought that right now his other self might do best with a deck destroying strategy, even if such a strategy was a poor fit with their current deck.

Marik had played several cards to increase the number in his hand, now, making Yuugi very confused—and concerned—about what he was trying to do. He supposed that it was possible that Marik was just trying to get that trump card Yuugi was sure he must have bee waiting for faster, but that didn't explain why he had just played Infinite Cards.

 _Be careful, other me,_ Yuugi said. _I don't like how much he's increasing his hand; there must be something up._

 _I noticed too,_ the other Yuugi said, glancing down at his cards and then at Marik's. _I don't like it much either, but I don't think there is anything I can do right now._

It was true; Marik's trap had prevented the other Yuugi from attacking this turn, and, although the cards on his side of the field were not particularly strong, there were three of them, the same number as Yuugi had and more than enough for a tribute summon. And on this draw he began to smirk. He had definitely drawn the card he was had been looking for.

"Too late, Pharaoh," Marik said, looking over at the other Yuugi. "Because this turn, I sacrifice my three monsters to summon the Sky Dragon of Osiris. It gains 1000 attack points for every card in my hand, so it's at 5000 right now, and soon it will increase even further!" He glanced in Jounouchi's direction. "You'd better start tying yourself up now; it won't be long now."

And, to Yuugi's horror, Jounouchi did. _We have to stop him!_ he said, but the other Yuugi didn't answer. He could see why, though; the cards in their hand and on their field wouldn't be enough to defeat a monster with 5000 attack points, and if Marik's hand grew, he wasn't sure there would be anything he could do against it.

"Osiris attacks your Dark Magician." The other Yuugi flinched: his LP was now disturbingly low. This would even be worrying if Jounouchi's life wasn't in danger. "That thing was getting on my nerves, destroying all my monsters like that. Turn end."

The other Yuugi drew a card. It was Beaver Warrior; not the best card in this situation, but another monster to use as a barrier against this beast might be useful. "I summon the Beaver Warrior in defense position."

Marik was smiling again. "I should probably tell you what Osiris's second mouth does, now. When you summon a monster it attacks, decreasing that monster's attack and defense points by 2000—and since your monster has less that 2000 defense, it is destroyed."

The other Yuugi flinched, and Yuugi cursed. He probably shouldn't have, but nobody could hear him but the other Yuugi, and his other self had heard him curse enough times before anyways. The other Yuugi glanced over the cards in his hand again. "I play magic card Swords of Revealing Light."

"Hoping to buy yourself some time, Pharaoh?" Marik asked, his smile telling Yuugi that he had something to counter the other Yuugi's cards. "Unfortunately, my Osiris is a God Card, meaning your spells and traps won't work on it."

"None of them?" the other Yuugi asked, sounding suspicious. Yuugi didn't blame him; that was an awfully strong power for a card to have.

"None except for those that change its attack and defense points." Yuugi sighed in relief. At least things weren't _as_ hopeless as he had feared.

The other Yuugi glanced down at his hand again, clearly thinking. _Why don't you put Magic Cylinder face down?_ Yuugi suggested. _It might come in handy some time._

 _I can, but it probably won't do much good with Dark Magician off the field,_ the other Yuugi said. _I doubt I'm going to draw the Dark Magician Girl in time._

 _Don't say that, other me! Just because things look bad now doesn't mean you should give up hope!_ Yuugi knew that his other self's words were probably true, but he couldn't give up hope on Jounouchi. He just couldn't.

"I place one card face-down. Turn end."

"My turn. Draw," Marik said, smirking triumphantly. "6000 attack. I destroy your Celtic Guardian, so you only have Kuriboh left. Good luck beating me with that. Turn end."

The other Yuugi reached out to draw a card. _This_ will _be Dark Magician Girl,_ Yuugi could hear him telling himself, and Yuugi found himself joining in. He even thought that the other Yuugi seemed surprisingly confident for the situation as he drew—

 _Yes!_ Yuugi cried. _Dark Magician Girl! You did it!_ He probably would have hugged the other Yuugi in joy if he were in spirit form right now—although after a moment of reflection, it was probably just as well that he didn't. The other Yuugi, for his part, only smirked at his hand.

"I sacrifice Kuriboh to summon Dark Magician Girl, in attack mode!"

"Dark Magician Girl? What's she going to do for you? She only has 2000 attack points; that won't do anything against me. I can destroy her as soon as she is summoned."

But the other Yuugi's smirk didn't falter even a little, and Yuugi completely understood why. "But since you already sent my Dark Magician to the graveyard, she gets 300 more attack points, so she can survive."

"Alright, you put your destruction off until my next turn. But what do you think you're going to do against this?" Marik asked, gesturing to his Osiris card.

Although Yuugi knew that they had a plan, he could feel the other Yuugi's expression turn from a smirk into a defiant glare. He might have been worried about his other self's prospects had he knot known it was a bluff. "Turn end," the other Yuugi said, sounding defiant.

"My turn, draw," Marik said, the smile of a man who knew he was about to win on his face. "Now, I know you have some sort of plan for those facedown cards of yours, so I'll—"

But what Marik was going to do about it, Yuugi never knew, because he was interrupted by footsteps on the deck of the ship, and Ishizu's voice calling out, "Wait! You must not finish this duel."

"It's too late for that, sister," Marik said, and Yuugi was shocked. She was Marik's sister? He supposed that it wasn't completely nonsensical, but to think that the person who had helped them—well, at least she had tried—to rescue Jounouchi from Marik was the man's sister! "This duel can not be stopped."

Ishizu shot a quizzical look over at the other Yuugi. "He has my friend," he said, inclining his head to Jounouchi, who was tied to the anchor. "We can not end this until the duel is decided."

She looked horrified at the other Yuugi's statement, but Yuugi's attention was drawn to a new set of footsteps behind him. They sounded heavier than Ishizu's had, but further wondering about the stranger's identity was preempted by Marik's cry of "Rishid!" He sounded surprised, as though he hadn't expected this Rishid to be there.

"He recovered today," Ishizu said. "If you hadn't been down here trying to get your revenge, you might have been there too."

Marik looked between Ishizu and Rishid, and then turned his eyes to the deck. "I should have been there," he said, quietly. "I'm sorry." Yuugi was a little surprised to see such a human side to this man who had been battling him, even if he had known it must be there.

"I can forgive you for not being there, but have I heard correctly? Are you holding this boy—who has done nothing but be a friend of your enemy—a hostage?" Rishid said. "You can't drag innocents into this."

"If I didn't have him there would be no way for me to be sure the Pharaoh would duel me," Marik said, but even he sounded unconvinced by his explanation. "However, I can release him." He gestured, and Jounouchi began untying himself. Yuugi sighed in relief.

"Then will you admit that I have nothing to do with whatever it is you are angry at me about?" The other Yuugi asked.

"No! You I will never—" but Marik seemed to stop himself. "Yes," he said, after a long pause. "It was that—that demon." He turned to Rishid. "The same one that hurt you. It—it is part of me. I _knew_ that it was him, not the Pharaoh, but I didn't want to face it. Now I must." Yuugi thought that this must be it, that everything was over and they would all be able to go home soon, but it seemed he had been too soon, because Marik spoke again. "But I can not allow you to leave without finishing our duel."

The other Yuugi inclined his head. "Very well. It is your turn; make your move."

"I attack your Dark Magician Girl with the Sky Dragon of Osiris."

"Dark Magician Girl uses the trap card Magic Cylinder, reflecting your attack back at you and destroying your life points."

Marik looked resigned. "I suppose I expected that to happen. What are you planning to do to me?"

The other Yuugi stared at Marik a moment. "What do you mean?"

"I kidnapped your friend," Marik said, "and tried to kill you. You must have some sort of punishment you want to give me."

"No," the other Yuugi said. "There doesn't seem to be any need. As soon as you free Jounouchi you can go."

"Oh, of course," Marik said. He waved his hand. "I won't trouble your friend any more."

But Yuugi and his other self were too busy looking at Jounouchi, who was blinking disorientedly. "What's goin' on? Where am I?" Then his eyes turned to Yuugi. "Yuugi? Hah, glad to see a friendly face. Why are we all here?"

"It might take a while to explain," the other Yuugi said. "I think we should wait until we're all out of here."

"Thank you, Pharaoh," Ishizu said when the other Yuugi was done talking. "I promise to make sure he won't cause any more trouble."

Rishid had moved to Marik's side. "We should go."

"Yes, let's," Marik said, reaching out to Rishid, a smile on his face.

Marik and Rishid began to walk off the ship, but Ishizu hung back. "Now that this whole incident is over, we need to talk," she said to the other Yuugi. "It would be best if we go to the Domino Museum."

"I think Jounouchi needs me more right now," the other Yuugi said. Ishizu looked unhappy about that, so Yuugi pushed himself into control of his body again, and said, "Don't worry. I'll come back when I'm done."

"So, now are you going to tell me what was going on?" Jounouchi asked as they began walking away from Marik's boat. "You promised you would."

"Of course," Yuugi said. "Well, it,s going to take a while, though..."


	7. In Which Yuugi Reaches a Beginning

The story of Yuugi's duel with Marik was indeed long, but Yuugi had plenty of time to tell Jounouchi as they traveled back to the park where their friends were (hopefully) still waiting for them—especially since they ended up having to wait almost twenty minutes for the bus they needed.

"Yuugi? Jounouchi?" Honda called out as soon as the two of them came close enough to the park to see him. "Where on earth did you go? We were looking for you."

"Yeah, what happened? When you didn't show up I called your house, Yuugi, but your grandpa said you'd left. I was so worried," Anzu added, sounding the part.

Well, it's sort of a long story," Yuugi said, glancing over at Jounouchi. He didn't really want to have to tell it again so soon.

"We have time, right?" Anzu said, giving a glance over at Honda. He nodded in agreement.

"You sure? I thought you were busy," Yuugi said, remembering that she had needed to run out earlier.

"Yes, well, I'm not anymore. You were gone for over an hour, you know."

"Oh. You waited for me all that time? Um, I guess I should explain, then," Yuugi said, sighing a little. "You see, was going to come—brought my deck and everything—but then I, well. You remember how Marik was controlling me earlier, right? It turns out that it hadn't gone away for good after all, since he did it again. I managed to escape, though, and then we—that's me and the other me—decided we had to do something about Marik, and then Marik's siblings showed up to talk to him, so, long story short, I don't think he's going to be bothering us much again."

"But how do you know that?" Anzu asked. "And what did Jounouchi have to do with all this?"

"Marik was controlling me too. Yuugi had to come rescue me," Jounouchi said, sounding so proud of his friend that Yuugi couldn't help but smile.

Yuugi nodded. "Marik was using Jounouchi to try to force me to fight him, so the other me—you know, I think maybe it would be better if he told you."

_Hey, wait! I'm no good at explaining!_

_Well, I had to tell the whole thing to Jounouchi; now it's your turn. I'm sure you'll do fine,_ Yuugi said, trying to suppress a little laugh.

 _Aibou, I—!_ the other Yuugi began, but Yuugi forced them to switch positions before he could protest further. The other Yuugi rolled his eyes, but didn't say anything.

Honda, who had been watching Yuugi through the whole exchange, spoke again. "So, Yuugi, what exactly did you do?"

"Played Duel Monsters," the other Yuugi said shortly.

"You mean you dueled over Jounouchi?" asked Anzu.

The other Yuugi nodded.

Anzu and Honda just stood and stared for a moment. Anzu was the first one to move again. "That's really—you're lucky things turned out okay. Imagine what could have happened if you lost!" She stepped forward and swept him into a hug.

"I'm fine, really," the other Yuugi muttered into her shoulder, looking distinctly uncomfortable. _A little help, aibou?_ he added, turning his head so that he could see Yuugi from the corner of his eye.

 _But you're doing so well,_ Yuugi said, trying not to laugh at his other self's predicament. _You even got Anzu to hug you; in my book that's always a good thing._

 _It would be better if it were you,_ the other Yuugi replied as Anzu let go of him. Yuugi did break out into laughter at that.

 _I'll switch back if you want,_ he offered.

The other Yuugi looked like he wanted to say yes, but he shook his head instead. _You asked me to tell them what happened, and I'm going to do just that._

"So, I suppose you want to know exactly how I beat Marik," the other Yuugi said, and upon being met with a chorus of "Yes" (even from Jounouchi, who had already heard the story from Yuugi), he launched into a considerably more in-depth explanation than Yuugi would have given. But he seemed to keep everyone's interest, all the way until he reached "...and then we came here and saw you," and switched back with Yuugi.

"Oh, hey, Yuugi, d'you still want to play Duel Monsters? We still have time for a game," Jounouchi asked, drawing his deck from his pocket.

Yuugi smiled. "I'd really like to, but I'm afraid I promised Ishizu I would talk to her at the Domino Museum. Sorry."

"No problem," Jounouchi said, though he sounded more than a little disappointed. "We can play some other time."

Yuugi didn't want to leave either, but a promise was a promise, so he went back the way he'd come, this time headed for the Domino Museum, where Ishizu was still waiting for him. Yuugi had expected her to take him to her office so they could talk, so he was surprised when instead she brought him into the Egyptian exhibit they had met her at before. _What do you think she brought us here for?_ he asked, as he gave the other Yuugi control of his body.

 _I don't know,_ the other Yuugi said. _I'm not sure I want to hear what she wants to talk to me about._

 _It can't be worse than what we've been through already, right?_ Yuugi replied with a laugh. _And you've got me with you._

 _it would be more comforting if I could see you, I think,_ said the other Yuugi.

It didn't take much effort for Yuugi to project himself outward. He put his hand on the other Yuugi's shoulder. _This better?_ The other Yuugi smiled at him in answer.

Ishizu stopped in front of a pair of stone tablets which Yuugi thought he recognized from his last visit to the museum. The other Yuugi hung back, but Yuugi went up to get a closer look. What he saw there surprised him. _The carving on this slab looks a little like me, and—is that the Dark Magician?_

Yuugi turned to see the other Yuugi's eyes widen in shock. "What is this thing?" he asked Ishizu.

"This stone slab holds the secret to your past, Pharaoh. You can see the three creatures carved around the Millennium Puzzle," Yuugi looked up to see them; he had been so preoccupied with the images below that he hadn't even noticed the carving of the Puzzle, "they are the three gods, which hold the key to your memories. We have lost—"

"No," the other Yuugi said. Yuugi looked at him in surprise. From the corner of the eye, he could see Ishizu doing the same. "You do not— I do not wish to hear about this."

"You do not wish to learn about your past?" Ishizu sounded surprised, and Yuugi couldn't blame her. He had been surprised himself when the other Yuugi first told him.

The other Yuugi shook his head. "I have the feeling that if I do, I will not be able to stay here, like this."

Ishizu looked thoughtfully at him for a moment before she spoke. "That is likely."

"Then I will not. My life here, with aibou and my friends, is more important than any memories I could have lost."

Ishizu blinked at him for a moment. "You must regain your memories. It is your destiny..." she said, but she sounded less sure of herself than she had a moment ago.

"I refuse. My decision has been made and nothing, destiny or otherwise, can change it," the other Yuugi replied, glaring up at her.

Ishizu turned her eyes away from him. "Very well. It seems there is no convincing you, at any rate. If you change your mind, please contact me." She handed him a card; from what Yuugi could see, it seemed to be her business card. He was pretty sure it contained her contact information, anyways. The other Yuugi pocketed it and turned to leave.

 _You would really choose me over your memories?_ Yuugi asked as they left the building. It was something of a surprise to him that anyone, even his other self, would think he was so important—although it was true that the other Yuugi had mentioned something similar before, Yuugi hadn't thought it was _him_ the other Yuugi had been talking about.

The other Yuugi inclined his head slightly. _It wouldn't be worth it if you couldn't be with me. And you did say you would let me have your memories—if that offer still stands._

Yuugi nearly threw his arms around the other Yuugi, but he managed to stop himself before he did. It would probably have been pretty weird to do that so soon after giving him a kiss he didn't want. _Of course it does!_ he contented himself with saying, nonetheless smiling hugely. _When I said I wanted us to be together forever, I was telling the truth._

 _Thank you,_ the other Yuugi replied, also smiling, though faintly. He moved a little bit, so that his hand brushed against Yuugi's—it would be ridiculously easy for Yuugi to grab it from this position. Yuugi tried very hard not to think about holding hands—really, he should have gotten a medal for how hard he tried—but, as is always the case in such situations, all his effort only made him think more about it, and about what the gesture might have meant, in other circumstances. But he didn't take the other Yuugi's hand. His other self wasn't interested; he remembered that.

 _I'm sorry about earlier,_ he said, figuring that clearing things up between them might help a little; the kiss he had given the other Yuugi was probably going to hang over him until he said something about it. _I—I couldn't think of anything else to do._

 _What are you talking about?_ the other Yuugi asked, sounding genuinely confused. _I'm not mad about talking to Ishizu—or that you made me explain things to our friends, if that's what you mean. You haven't done anything wrong._

Yuugi was relieved that _that_ was the worst thing the other Yuugi thought he'd done today—well, actually, he'd figured that the other Yuugi hadn't been too unhappy about the kiss, since he hadn't said anything, but it was still nice to get confirmation. _When I kissed you. I know you weren't really into it, but it was the only way I could think of to get rid of Marik. So, um, I just wanted to clear that up._

The other Yuugi grabbed Yuugi's hand and tugged at it, and Yuugi turned so that he was looking the other Yuugi straight in the face. _What makes you think I 'wasn't into it'?_

Wait. Was the other Yuugi saying that he had liked the kiss? That was not at all what Yuugi had been expecting. But still, a more pessimistic part of him said that the other Yuugi had probably just meant that it hadn't bothered him, not that he had really _liked_ it. _The way you stiffened up when I kissed you—when you want a kiss, you kiss back, right?_

 _I was only surprised,_ the other Yuugi said; Yuugi thought he seemed relieved. _I hadn't really been expecting you to kiss me right then, and you pulled away pretty quickly._

Yuugi laughed slightly. _Are you trying to say that you_ wanted _me to kiss you?_

 _I wouldn't mind kissing you again, if you're okay with that,_ the other Yuugi replied, with a smile of his own.

 _Right here?_ Yuugi could feel his eyes growing wide at the suggestion. _But we're in public! What about all the people?_ He gestured to the few walkers along the mostly-deserted streets. Okay, so there weren't _many_ people around, but he really didn't need anyone else staring at him today.

 _You didn't seem to be worried last time._ Yuugi felt his face heat up, and he was about to protest, when the other Yuugi said, _But if you're going to insist, I can wait until we get home._

Yuugi hurried back to the game shop, but as soon as he got back he was waylaid by his grandfather, who wanted him to move things around in the shop. In fact, it wasn't until after dinner that he was able to collapse onto his bed, in the privacy of his own room.

_What a day, eh, other me? I would never have expected all that to happen this morning._

_No, never,_ the other Yuugi agreed, sounding much more serious than Yuugi had. _We were very lucky things turned out as they did._

 _Come on, relax a little. It turned out alright, didn't it?_ Yuugi pushed himself up to sitting and turned to look next to him. As he expected, the other Yuugi was sitting there, as well.

 _It very nearly didn't!_ the other Yuugi said, voice thick with emotion. _I could have lost you._

Yuugi reached over to grab the other Yuugi's hand and give it what he hoped was a comforting squeeze. _No you didn't. I... I would still have been there for you, you know that. I don't think Marik would have kept me like that forever._

The other Yuugi's eyes slid closed. _But I failed you. If you hadn't been able to do what you did, then..._

 _But I did,_ Yuugi said, giving the other Yuugi's hand another squeeze. _And I wouldn't have thought you failed me no matter what. Anyways, it's not like_ everything _that happened today was bad, right?_

The other Yuugi's eyes snapped open in surprise, but after a moment he relaxed, and Yuugi saw a slight smile play over his lips. _Yes, you're right. There were... some things... that I liked._

The other Yuugi shifted closer to Yuugi then, staring into his eyes. If it had been anyone else, Yuugi might have felt uncomfortable at the invasion of personal space and the intensity of the stare, but this was his other self, so Yuugi just leaned back and laughed. "Are you looking for something?" he asked, speaking aloud this time.

 _You said you needed to talk about it,_ the other Yuugi said. He didn't clarify what "it" was, but he didn't need to—Yuugi knew quite well what he was trying to say.

Yuugi sighed. _I—to be honest, I hadn't ever really thought about kissing you before today. I mean, I'd always had a thing for Anzu and, well, you aren't even a girl. I've always liked girls before._

The other Yuugi blinked at Yuugi, though Yuugi wasn't sure what the expression on his face meant. _I never expected you to be interested in me._

 _But you were?_ Yuugi asked, quietly—or as close as he could get, considering he was not speaking aloud. _Interested in me, I mean?_

The other Yuugi paused again before answering. _I hadn't really thought about it much. But I guess that whenever I thought about that stuff, it was always... you. I tried not to think about it much, though. I always assumed that you and Anzu..._

 _Me too,_ Yuugi said, smiling a bit. _But I think I must have felt this for you for a while now._

The other Yuugi leaned toward Yuugi again, this time so close that their foreheads were touching. _I've always thought you were wonderful,_ he said after a few moments of sitting like that, and pulled back far enough that he could study Yuugi's face.

Yuugi laughed again. _You planning on doing something?_

The other Yuugi smiled back, and Yuugi thought he thought he heard slight laughter, too. But he was never certain, because just then the other Yuugi leaned forward to press a kiss onto his lips, and that drove all other thoughts out of his mind.

This kiss was not nearly as desperate as the one Yuugi had given his other self earlier that day. In fact, if Yuugi had to describe it, he would call it cautious, as though the other Yuugi was worried about how Yuugi would react. It _was_ a little awkward, since neither Yuugi nor the other Yuugi were terribly experienced in these sorts of things, but that didn't stop Yuugi from wanting more, so he finally released his other self's hand to wrap his arms around him and pull him closer. They couldn't get quite as close as Yuugi would have liked what with the way they were sitting, but the other Yuugi did seem to have become a bit more sure of what he was doing.

Although Yuugi wasn't sure how long they had kissed for, he didn't think it had been too long before he pulled away, grinning hugely. "Is that what you wanted?" he asked quietly, his voice tinged with laughter.

 _Yes, I think it was,_ the other Yuugi said, the smile on his face matching that on Yuugi's own. _I assume you liked it._

"I think I'd like to do it again, if you don't mind," Yuugi said, smiling even more, if that was possible.

 _I would like that,_ the other Yuugi said, sounding more enthusiastic than his words suggested, so Yuugi leaned over to press their lips together once more. Yuugi could feel the other Yuugi's arms wrap around him, and he moved his own hand to the back of his other self's head to give himself more leverage. This was everything Yuugi had wished his first kiss with his other self could have been. Apparently the other Yuugi thought so as well, because Yuugi could hear a low hum of pleasure from him. Or maybe Yuugi himself had made the noise; he was too busy with his other self's lips to pay much attention.

In the end, it was the other Yuugi who broke the kiss, by leaning back on his hands. Yuugi nearly leaned after him, but after a moment he decided against it. _So, what do you think we should do now?_ the other Yuugi asked.

 _Well, we could kiss some more,_ Yuugi suggested, _or if you don't want to we could talk or play a game or watch television or do something else._ Yuugi paused for a moment, but when his other self didn't answer, he continued. _Or if you were talking about a little longer term, I guess nothing, really. After all, we're safe now that Marik's gone, at least until someone else comes after us._

 _Yeah, until someone else comes. There always seems to be someone else, doesn't there?_ But Yuugi thought the other Yuugi sounded more amused than worried.

 _Well, maybe this will be the last one,_ Yuugi said, rearranging himself so he was pressed more comfortably against his other self.

The other Yuugi reached a hand up to caress Yuugi's cheek. _I hope so. I would hate to see anything happen to you._

They sat like that for a while, the other Yuugi running his fingers over Yuugi's face, until the other Yuugi finally broke the silence. _It's a little strange, isn't it? I can't manipulate anything else in this world,_ to demonstrate he plucked at Yuugi's bedcovers, which didn't move even a little bit, _but with you,I can even support your weight like this without trouble._

 _It must look like I'm leaning against thin air to anyone else,_ Yuugi agreed, laughing a little. _Do you have any idea why it works this way?_

_I guess—It must be because you are the other me. I want to be able to touch you, to hold you up, and I can. Just like when I want you to see me, or to hear me._

_That still doesn't make a lot of sense_ Yuugi said, smiling at him. _But I can't think of any better explanation._ They fell silent once more, and a question that had been gnawing at the back of Yuugi's mind almost since their kiss that afternoon finally came to the forefront. He wasn't sure now was really the right time to ask it, but, well, he needed some sort of answer, and there probably wouldn't ever be any better time. _So, um, what are we now?_

The other Yuugi looked at him in confusion. _What do you mean? We're still us, aren't we?_

 _Yes, but, to each other._ Yuugi sighed a little. _Are we going out or something? Now that we've kissed it's, well..._

 _It's what?_ the other Yuugi asked, still sounding as though he didn't quite understand. _I don't think anything has really changed. You are still aibou,_ he punctuated this statement with a smile that managed to make it the highest endearment in the world, _and I think I am still your other me. A kiss doesn't change my feelings; you have always been the most important person in the world to me._

 _And you for me,_ Yuugi replied, reaching out to play with the other Yuugi's bangs (as much as it was possible; they were as stiff with gel as Yuugi's own). _You're probably right. My feelings haven't changed either, really, though I guess I'll be spending less time wishing it wouldn't be weird to touch you. And as for your question before, about what we do next, well, I don't really know. I guess we'll just have to wait and see what happens._

The other Yuugi leaned forward to kiss Yuugi's jaw. _I think you're right. Tomorrow will be a new day._

Yuugi laughed and nodded. _And maybe a new adventure. You never know about that sort of thing._ They fell silent, then, but it wasn't an unhappy silence, or an awkward silence. It was the silence of two people who didn't have anything more to say to each other, and knew they didn't need to. And Yuugi knew that whether they talked to each other before they went to bed that night, or even before lunch tomorrow, mattered as little as the other Yuugi had told him the name of their relationship did. He was happy just sitting with his other self right now, and waiting to see where the future would lead him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AO3's not letting me change the total number of chapters from '?', so I would just like to clarify that this is the end. Thank you very much to everyone who has made it this far! I hope you enjoyed the ride as much as I did.


End file.
